The Tale of Two Shepards
by MorbidOptimist
Summary: John and Emily Shepard have grown up in the slums of earth only to claw their way into becoming who the are today, the butchers of Torfan and the saviors of the galaxy. Across a trilogy, this is their story. Will contain custom ending & romances.
1. Chapter 1

**So after waiting for the Mass effect trilogy to finally be complete, and dying afterwords, and I'm pretty sure you know why, I got to thinking about how I've always considered both maleshepard and femshep as siblings, and how cool it would be to write their story from day one to the end. And by end, I mean a much better one then that crap Bioware pulled. **

**In any case, I am still working on Ortus Everto foremost, and as I don't actually own the games myself there will probably be long periods inbetween chapters while I try to remember what happened & figure out how I want the story to go; but as most people are currently avoiding anything Bioware related, I'm sure nobody will mind.**

**That being said, you may consider this as an Earthborn/Ruthless Paragon run. Awkward combo? Yes. But it's how I ran my first (and only) playthrough so I'm sticking with my guns on it. There will be the occasional renegade choice, but all is done for the greater good, and cause, you know, some people just need to be thrown out of windows. **

**Also, as for pairings, I'm going to have femshep romance Liara, not only for plot reasons, but because that's what happened in my game and with all the canon stuff she does for Shepard I figure she deserves a little recognition. Plus I love the way she tripped over herself in conversations.**

**As for the male-shep, I'm open for suggestions but I think I'm leaning towards Ash... maybe. Haven't decided yet. Possibly Tali, at least crushing. Hell, I'd be willing to make it a shep/garrus pairing. XD**

**Final note, their names are going to be John Shepard, and Emily Shepard. No way in hell am I going to write countless chapters about a "Jane Shepard" as that name sounds ridiculous, not to mention that they're siblings in this fic and need a bit of their own identity. "Emily" is feminine sounding but not girly, plain like a default, but still sounds nice and what I used in my run. That being said, both are biotics, though Emily is stronger there, and John is a better shot, though both could technically outsnipe Garrus any day of the week or hold their own against say Miranda for a good ten minutes or so. **

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><p>Mass Effected<p>

A Tale of the Two Shepards

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><p>And Shepherds we shall be<p>

For thee, my Lord, for thee.

Power hath descended forth from Thy hand

Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands.

So we shall flow a river forth to Thee

And teeming with souls shall it ever be.

In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti.

~Boondock Saints, "Family Prayer"

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><p>"Well, what about the Shepards? Earthborn… but no records of their family," offered Ambassador Udina as the pair stared out over galaxy.<p>

"They don't have one. Not even sure their related themselves come to think of it," he continued idly scratching at the scruff on his chin, "They were raised in the streets, learned to lookout for themselves."

"Yeah," the ambassador replied dryly, "they got most of their unit killed on Torfan."

"They get the job done. No matter what the cost."

"And are _they_ the kind of people we want protecting the galaxy?" he snapped.

"They're the _only_ kind of people who _can_ protect the galaxy," the captain replied, his eyes unwavering.

"…I'll make the call…"

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><p><strong>There's the intro. <strong>**Remember that feeling of seeing it for the first time? Pure awesome****. Now, this is super short but was mostly just for an author-info dump anyway. **

**Now, fair warning, I have neither read any of the books nor am I that great at writing battle scenes, so be patient if I spend a while researching specifics. but like I said before, I doubt anyone will care too much about this at the moment. **

**Now maybe that I got all this out I can get back to Everto and make my readers happy for once...**

**Happy reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**We begin our story right where the game does... On the SSV Normandy SR-1, just before Eden Prime...**

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><p>"…Fifty seven... fifty…eight. Uhg…fifty…nine…"<p>

"Give it up…_sixty one_… you're gonna... _sixty two_… lose."

Groaning, the blue eyes biotic admitted defeat and dropped to the floor, his boots making a satisfying thud when they hit the unyielding metal below. John nodded to himself and watched his sister do another half set on the pull-up bar before she too dropped to the floor with a perky grin. John sighed to himself and Emily batted her lashes at him innocently, causing the man to snort in amusement before his expression hardened.

"Alright then dear sister, let's see just what you're made of, come on. I'll wipe that smug smile off your face..."

Emily grinned, her violet eyes brightening at the challenge, and dropped into her ready stance as her brother did the same, he too was grinning.

"You're just jealous that mine's _bigger_," she taunted playfully as swung a bioticly charged fist at his chest.

He dodged it easily and taunted her back while he aimed one himself; "And _you're_ just pissed that I'm _prettier_."

Emily snorted and grabbed her brother's fist in her field and aimed a knee to his gut.

John responded by twisting her arm, lowering them both closer to the floor and sweeping Emily's feet from underneath her, dropping them to the mat instantly where they both fought for leverage.

"Alright you two, save it for the Batarians. You've got work to do."

Continuing their fight just long enough for Emily to land a playful blow to her brother's jaw the pair instantly got up and stood at the ready, neither caring to straighten up their appearances further or to wipe the sweat from their brows. Their hands clasped behind their backs, their postures straight and eyes at the ready in perfect synchronization. They waited silently for the man before them to continue.

"You're needed updeck. I'd suggest getting up there before Joker hits the relay. Up to you two though. The Captain wants to see you," the officer continued, before clicking his heels together and spinning on a pinpoint before walking away.

Without missing a beat Emily turned to her brother and said, "If we're getting fired, I'm blaming you. For everything. Just so you know."

John smirked and nodded absently before nodding to himself. He turned and replied happily, "Fine, as long as you know I'm getting the showers first."

Realizing that the taunt was a race as the last of the words slipped from her brother's tongue, Emily immediately charged ahead, grinning, only to be pushed aside as John swept passed her, blowing her a kiss before slamming the metal door behind him. Emily stopped and briefly considered shouting some colorful profanities in his direction, but smiled when she realized that the mechanics hadn't fixed the heaters yet and that John would soon be freezing his arse off after sealing the bathroom doors no doubt. Her smile remained with her even as she pulled off her now sweaty civies and yoinked on her N7 suit piece by piece and wiped her face with a hand towel before doing the same to the back of her neck.

She waited a few minutes longer, just on the off chance her brother was done freezing, and shook her head when she realized that the man fully intended to wait until the water heated up. Deciding that she'd have a more interesting time in the cockpit then on waiting in the cargo hold for her stubborn sibling, she headed up the stairs to have a quick chat with the pilot while her brother finished up.

When she arrived, the cap wearing man was having a heated discussion with a fellow crewmate about one of the passengers onboard their ship, a turian spectre named Nihlus.

"Besides, Specters are trouble. I don't like having them onboard… Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid," Emily replied casually, causing both men to spin around in their chairs.

"Hey Shepard," Kaidan replied politely before turning back to Joker, "the council funded this project. They have a right to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that is the _official_ story," Joker replied, "but nobody believes the official story."

"Joker, I think you're overreacting a bit," the violet eyed redhead interjected, "…but they usually don't send Spectres on shakedowns runs either."

Joker's eyes lit up, "So there is more going on here then the captain's letting on…"

Almost as if he had been listening, the captain's voice echoed through the intercom; "Joker, status report."

Regaining a professional aura, Joker responded, "Just cleared the mass Relay Captain, stealth systems are engaged and everything looks solid."

"Good, Find a comm bouy and link us in to the network. I want mission reports relayed back to the Alliance brass _before _we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye aye Captain," Joker replied before nodding, "you better brace yourself sir, I think Nihlus is headed you way."

"He's already here Lieutenant. Tell the Lieutenant Commander Shepards to meet me in the Comm. Room for a debriefing," the Captain ordered before signing off.

Joker tossed his reply over his shoulder, "You get that Commander?"

Emily knit her brows, the tone in her Captain's voice was strange and it didn't sit well with her; "He sounds angry," she declared softly, "Something must have gone wrong with the mission…"

"Pff the Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me," Joker jested.

"I can't possibly imagine why," Kaiden replied, earning a smirk from the redhead.

Emily gave them each a nod and headed toward the Comm Room and hurried her pace when she noticed her brother already headed in that direction. After catching up to him, the pair immediately fell into synch and their expressions mellowed out as John relayed what he had gathered from an argument between their Navigator Pressley and one of their engineers.

"So you think there's something wrong here too?" Emily whispered under her breath, earning her brother's nod in affirmation, "Joker seems to think so too."

"And the good Doctor as well," John offered.

"Chakwas? Damn. There must be something wrong then... I don't like this Johnny. Not one bit."

They soon stepped into the Comm Room with the door swooshing shut behind them and Emily felt rather than heard her brother's surprise at seeing the turian in front of them rather than their Captain.

"Ah Commanders," he said as he granted them each a nod, "I was hoping you two would get here first. It will give us a small chance to talk."

"The Captain said he's meet us here," John replied coldly, before Emily shot him a glare.

The Spectre merely nodded again and replied "He's on his way," before turning and continued as he walked around the room, "I'm interested in this world we're going to. Eden Prime… I've heard it's quite beautiful."

"Well they say it's a paradise," Emily offered, "We've never been there though."

"Yes… a paradise…serene…calm…uneventful…_safe_. It's become something like a symbol for your people hasn't it? -Proof that humanity can not only colonize across the galaxy but also that they can protect them… but how safe is it really?" he asked, his mandibles occasionally twitching.

"Do you know something?" John asked; he could think of thousands of ways that this conversation wasn't sitting well with him. A thousand more for how it was sitting with his sister. None of them were looking good for the turian at the moment.

"You're people are still newcomers, the galaxy is a very dangerous place… Is the Alliance truly ready for this?" he asked offhandedly, as if posing the question to the very air rather than to the room's inhabitants.

"I think it's about time we told the Commanders what's really going on," came their Captain's voice walking purposefully into the room; instantly more relieved, the siblings relaxed and stood at attention.

Nodding, the turian replied, "This mission is far more than a shakedown run."

"I knew it," Emily spat, her brother nodding, "We figured there was something you weren't telling us."

"What's really going on here?"

"Well John," Anderson began, "Emily," he nodded, "we're making a covert pick up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."

"Is there a reason you didn't tell us this Sir?"

"Son, this comes down from the very top. Information on a strictly need-to-know basis."

"Well then I guess we need to know now then, right Sir?" Emily asked sarcastically, her eyes betraying her amusement.

"A research team on Eden prime unearthed a beacon of some kind. It was Prothean."

"Prothean?" John asked surprised.

"Sir, I thought the Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago," Emily added, drawing on information learned in her time at the Alliance Academy.

"Yes Commander, but their legacy still remains. The Mass relays, the Citadel… all were based on their technology. This is big, the last time humanity made a find like this it pushed our technology forward by nearly 200 years. Unfortunately, Eden Prime doesn't have proper facilities to handle it, that's why we have to get it to the Citadel for proper study."

Feeling it pertinent, the turian interrupted, "This goes beyond just humanity. This could affect every species in Council space. But the beacon's not the only reason I'm here Shepards..."

Nodding, the Captain continued, "Nihlus is here to evaluate you two, to watch you guys in action."

"Guess that's why he's been staring at us this whole trip…" John muttered.

"Don't be so disappointed that he didn't want to screw you Johnny," Emily quipped happily.

"I'll screw _you_ in a minute Sis," he replied just as quick only to find himself scowling at his sister's chuckle.

"The alliance has been pushing this for a long time you two, humanity wants more say in interstellar policy and a better standing with the Citadel Council. If they accept a human as a Spectre it'll show how far the Alliance has come."

"Woah there Captain," John began, raising his hands, "_A_ human? No deal there Sir, we're a team. You don't get one without the other Sir."

"If it means that humanity as a whole is strengthened and betters the odds for all, then yes, _one _of you will be a Spectre. Although I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, you two have always worked diligently side by side with the best results. There wasn't a _single_ slaver that made it out of Torfan alive because of you two and you both held off an entire enemy assault during the blitz single handedly. You two yield results where no one else can. I'm sure the Council will take that into consideration. Earth needs this Commanders, we're counting on you two."

"We understand Sir," Emily replied as her brother merely nodded.

"You two will be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship. Nihlus will go with you to observe."

"As you wish Sir," the pair replied in unison with equal amounts of determination.

"Captain," Joker interrupted via overcome, "we've got a problem…"

Instantly footage from Eden Prime was on display and the small group watched in frustrated horror and confusion and the battle taking place. The transmission then played back an officer's distress call and blacked out.

"It cuts off after that. Then nothing, not even white noise. Just nothing…"

"Reverse and hold at 38.5," the Captain ordered.

The screen paused on a giant hand like ship spitting electrical charges. It reminded Emily vaguely of a sea creature she read about once in bootcamp, but she couldn't place the name or species. To John, it just looked like a mechanical monster that needed to be introduced to a couple rounds of synthetic ammo and a good dose of heavy fire.

"There aren't any other Alliance ships in the area Captain."

"…Take us in Joker, fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"A small strike team could move fast without getting detected. It's out best chance to secure the beacon," Nihlus proclaimed, his hand on his chin.

Turning to face the Spectre the Captain replied, "Grab your gear and meet us down in the cargo hold," the, regarding the siblings in front of him, "Shepards, tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up, they're going with you two."

"Yesir," John replied giving a salute mirrored by his sister before the pair marched off to find their requested squad mates.

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><p><strong>Ok so nothing really exciting yet. I know. But Everything has to start somewhere, right? And don't worry, things will stop getting so word for word as the story goes on, though it'll still be quite "canon" to the real story if all goes as planned.<strong>

**Also, thank you to everyone who put this story on their favorites and their alerts, I hope I don't disappoint you guys and I appreciate the reviews this received. **

**The next chapter shall begin with the ride to Eden Prime, complete with Jenkins being an idiot. Stupid Richard Leroy Jenkins. It might take a little while, please be patient with me, I mean you guys no harm. **

**I don't own anything so please don't sue, I also love readers who comment or review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello dear readers, I'm back once again with another chapter.**

**This time it's a long one, so be prepared with a cookie or two before diving in. Everything is mostly correct to the game, however I have taken a few creative liberties, nothing major. **

**I must admit it was a little difficult writing two dominate characters trading their authority back and forth in a believable way. **

**I own nothing, just trying to spin a good yarn. **

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><p>"Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed,<p>

and if any for a time eluded his watch and wandered away from all the rest,

seeking diligently until he brought it back."

~Sam. 17:34

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><p>"Engaging stealth systems…" Joker relayed as the Normady headed closer towards the target planet, as they swooped in for a closer look he continued, "Looks like somebody was doing some serious digging here captain…"<p>

In the cargo hold Anderson nodded and turned towards the ground team with nothing but trust and determination in his eyes. He nodded at each of them in turn and regarded the two Earthborn siblings with iron confidence, "Your team's the muscle in this operation Commanders, go in heavy and head straight for the dig site."

"What about survivors Captain?" Kaidan asked hurriedly; he was all for a high stake grocery run but if they were to leave good men behind to suffer for it he wasn't going to cooperate willingly. He had no desire to see why the red sleeved Commanders were called the "Butchers" if he didn't have to.

Understanding the officers concerns the Captain nodded and replied in a way that left no room for argument; "Helping survivors is a _secondary_ objective. The beacon is your top priority."

"Approaching drop point one Captain," came Joker's voice, "we'll hit it in T minus five, sir."

The Captain was about to respond when the turian spectre strolled into the room, causing Corporal Jenkins to nearly squee with surprised delight; "Nihlus? You're coming with us?"

The turian checked and fired up his gun before replying with an icy, "I move faster on my own," crushing some but not all of the Corporal's enthusiasm for the mission.

The Captain cleared his throat, taking command of attention once again; "Nihlus will scout ahead. He'll feed you status reports throughout the mission; otherwise, I want radio silence."

Knowing that the orders belayed the need for response, John looked to his sister whose face was already hardened for battle and then back to the Captain, he was about to ask if they could trust the Spectre before Emily knowingly cut him off with a sharp, "Understood Captain, he can count on us."

"You _all_ can count on _each other_ Commander," Anderson corrected happily, "The mission's yours now you two," he continued, "Good luck."

"Captain," John asked hesitantly, before the Captain started to leave.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Should the need arise, is method Ophanis permissible?

Pausing in consideration The Captain weighed the pros and cons of allowing such a method for this particular mission. The Ophanis method was as brutal as it was effective in eliminating opposing forces, however the lack of directed control could prove problematic in securing the beacon itself...

The Captain shook his head; "Negatory Commander. I want you _both_ operating at full capacity," he replied, giving Emily a small nod; "As I recall you two were rather adverse to the idea in your files," he finished calmly, "Carry on."

Emily gave a firm salute that was soon mirrored by the rest of the team as the Captain left to continue his other duties on deck. When his back was no longer visible their hands dropped respectively to their sides and the Commanders swept a quick glance at their crew.

"Drop zone one reached, stand back and watch your step," said Joker as the Normandy opened her doors to the foreign world of Eden Prime, reminding the female Commander of a gutted whale. Not the prettiest of images to be thinking about, but it was unshakeable from her thoughts just the same.

Wordlessly, the turian stepped out first, throwing a nod to the others and John threw a sharp nod in reply, his hands already slipping on his helmet. The ship lifted off again and raced towards her next destination, leaving all but Jenkins solemn.

"Oh man guys this is it, real action. I can't believe it's really happening," Jenkins cooed to himself, already psyched for whatever horrors they were no doubt likely to face.

"I truly hope you don't mean any of that," John replied firmly, his helmet skewing his slightly voice. The Corporal looked at him in confusion before the click of a non-standard issue N7 modified Stiletto VI turned his attention to the man's redheaded sister.

"Real action usually gets everybody being patched up in the good doctor's infirmary. And _that's (click)_ if you're _lucky_ _(click)_. We may very well not be coming out of this alive Corporal. I'd suggest you keep your wits about you. A real soldier keeps his cool even under fire."

Sheepishly the young man nodded, gulping quietly before replying with a swift, "Yes Ma'am. Sorry ma'am, it's just that this waiting is killing me, I've never been on a mission like this before, not with a real life Spectre!"

"Just treat this like every other assignment you've had and everything should work out Corporal," the grin returning to the boy's face, "_Hopefully_ that is," she finished, wiping the expression off once again.

"Easy for you to say ma'am, you've had yourself proved since Torfan…_ Everyone_ knows what you and John can do. This is my big chance! I need to show the brass what I can do!"

"This mission isn't about personal glory Corporal," Emily snapped, causing the boy to flinch, "we have a job to do, don't go doing anything _stupid_ to mess it up!"

"Don't worry ma'am," he replied sincerely, "I'm not going to screw this up."

Emily nodded to herself and tried to avoid her brother's glare. Really, she thought to herself, she was doing the boy a favor. Missions were life and death situations, not some virtual simulator that racked up your score for a tidy pat on the back after practice every night. True, she had let her temper get the best of her, but bringing up Torfan always ruined her more tactful approach to eloquence. the boy was lucky she hadn't shot him on principle. She slid her pistol into its holder and crossed her arms, waiting for the signal to get started, ignoring the layer off sweat that had long since dried to her skin. she mentally decided that the first course of action when this was over would be to secure the showering facilities for herself.

"Your helmet Red?" asked her brother, bringing her from her thoughts on personal hygiene.

"In the locker," she replied dryly, daring him to comment further on it, not caring one iota about the breach in safety percussions; mentally she was striding downs the blood soaked halls in Torfan, picturing her past sins in their putrid glory, her violet eyes darker than usual with years old malice.

John didn't mention it further, not wanting to create unnecessary dissention among the ranks or anger his sister into one of her moods, but he promised himself to have another talk with his stubborn counterpart at a later date about preemptive measures and their abilities to save lives. Not that his sister wasn't already aware of those facts mind you, she had been the top of her class after all and beating him by a lousy five points, not that he was still jealous about it or anything. He only raised an eyebrow in reply before gazing out over what little of Eden they could see from inside the Normady.

The smell of burning flesh and synthetic blood was tainting the air and wondered how his sister could stand the vile aroma. Then again, her nose had led them out of danger or to their goals just as often as his ears, so perhaps her forgone helmet was an unintentional battle strategy. It wouldn't surprise him in the slightest. Emily was quick as lightning, as pretty to look at, and twice as deadly. Suddenly, he found himself wondering what would happen if it was his sister the Council would choose, and what would become of her. The sound of the comm clicking on wrenched him from his thoughts.

"Alright boys and girls, drop zone two below, watch your step," he stated happily, "have fun out there you two but just remember, try to bring your team back _alive_ this time," he chuckled.

"Not needed joker," John snapped as they took their first steps onto the planet, knowing his sister was already thinking about that ghastly mission.

"_Touch~y_," he replied, clicking the comm off once more.

Wincing Emily straightened herself up after landing and took a quick glance at the team; they too were cursing under their breaths and the Corporal seemed particularly surprised that landed a several foot drop _hurt_. She met her brother's blue eyes, thick with determination and gave a nod that silently said, _time to go_. He nodded in affirmation and they took stock of the area around them.

The land was scorched and dry, certainly unparadisely so, and seemed to be hilly if not a little mountainous. Seeing light from past several large boulders Emily set off briskly, gun outstretched while John immediately covered her flank, Jenkins and Alenko soon following suit.

"One think I don't get," Jenkins shouted as they descended the hill.

"What's that Corporal?" asked the black haired commander, his eyes scanning for any signs of movement.

"Since when do biotics need guns?" he asked between huffs as the continued their journey.

Kaiden, annoyed with the Corporal's question, answered it for the Commander; "Since guns don't run out of steam. Biotics only least so long when you're a Vanguard or a Sentinel."

"Besides," Emily cut in, "Guns make a very nice satisfying boom," she added with a lopsided grin. The group's chuckles were almost instantly cut off by Nihlus.

"This place got hit hard, hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up."

"Affirmative," John answered before the connection cut.

They quickly hurried their pace, and Emily nearly shot the harmless space crabs out of instinct before cursing and releasing the pressure around her trigger; "Damn things should be more careful…" he offered at her brother's glance.

He nodded, having also narrowly avoided shooting the strange creatures. To be honest, he only _didn't_ shoot them because his sister had already spared their lives, thus silently ordering the same for the rest of their kind if it could be helped. He silently wondered what color they bled or if in fact, they bled at all. Aliens were interesting like that, he mused, falling into synch with his sister.

They headed for the bright white building in the distance, avoiding rocks, debris, the strange animals and the trees where they could. Soon, they neared the top of another hill and Jenkins was the first to speak his mind.

"Oh god, what happened here?"

The sky was a bloody red, filled with smoke and the ground in different areas was still very much on fire. Ash and wreckage dribbled from the sky like acid rain and left a grungy feeling along the back of Emily's neck. Cautiously, the red headed commander looked to her brother and knelt, crouching amongst the rocks as her brother silently followed suit. Quietly, Kaiden and Jenkins did the same, but with less precision and grace.

The path was open, uphill, and far_ far_ too easy for the red head's liking. It was a trap, she was absolutely sure of it, as the tingling on her neck and the wrenching in her gut confirmed the thought. She glanced at her brother, not needing to see through the visor to know that he too felt what was at stake here. Silently, the communicated as only those who have spent their entire lives working together as one well oiled machine in debate as to who would go first to test the path's safety.

After a few moments the helmeted Shepard nodded to his sibling, _ladies first_, and unfortunately, the Corporal crept forward even as the pale red head flicked her hand forward, _stay put_. The others, seeing Jenkins move forward followed suit and Emily watched with grim detachment as her brother rushed to provide cover for the two officers. _At least Alenko had the smarts to hide in the rocks, _she thought to herself, still watching. Jenkins apparently didn't share in his squad mate's luck and he screamed as he was almost immediately taken down.

John cursed, knowing that the situation could have been avoided but was beyond helping at the moment. He felt no remorse for the soldier that now lay dying on Eden's floor. Instead, he pent up his emotions in a finely caged wrath as he aimed to take out the mechanically airborne enemy, Geth recon drones. He was surprised when out of the corner of his eye he caught his sister standing over the fallen man, taking out the opposition with deadly accuracy while also keeping further harm from coming to him. He found himself smiling at his sister's sporadic spurt of heroism, as Alenko finished the final target off John found himself wondering he too would ever progress past the butcher he had become.

He turned to around to see his sister and their last squad mate kneeling beside the fallen officer. Emily removed his helmet and checked his vital, giving a slight shake of the head when she felt no pulse. John nodded somberly, unsurprised when he felt nothing at seeing the man dead. Emily closed the man's eyes in a childish display of respect, though both she and her brother knew that they would soon open themselves again as the body progressed through the stages of rigor mortis. They stood and as john was about to turn away Kaiden began to mumble angrily towards the violet eyed Commander.

"They ripped right through his shields… he never had a chance…"

"Sometimes marines die. The rest of us just have to carry on. We still have to find the beacon," she replied harshly before softening to continue, "After all this is over we'll just have to make sure Jenkins gets his proper final respects. It's what he deserves."

His sense of duty quickly overshadowed the officer's remorse; "Aya aye ma'am," Kaidan replied with respect laden words and brightly lit eyes.

"Let's move out," John ordered, breaking up what he sincerely hoped wasn't going to be the start of anything against regulations. As far as battle went, he knew that his sister was beyond capable of handling herself, emotionally however was a different story. He made a mental note to have a private talk with the officer later.

As they ran up the path they were quickly met with more drones which they quickly took care of and the Spectre soon relayed another warning over the comm.

"I've got some burned building here Commanders, lots of bodies… I'm going to check it out. I'll meet back up with you guys at the dig site," he finished before cutting off, this time leaving no time for a reply.

"Fuck," Emily replied angrily, narrowly escaping a shot to her shoulder.

"Language," John snapped as he shot another drone.

"Stuff it Johnny," she replied, taking down a drone aiming for his chest before ducking as another drone took a shot at her head.

"So why is your helmet in your locker again?" John asked with a deviled grin.

"Had to have _somewhere_ to put your balls Johnny," she retorted happily as the last of the group went down.

Alenko snickered and held his weapon at ease before investigating opening a crate and pulling out an unused assault rifle.

"Are we going to need this, Commanders?"

"Take it," Emily replied without looking at him, "You never know."

The trio continued, making their way through the trees and larger boulders when the sound of gunfire not directed at them caught their notice. A soldier in white and pink phoenix armor was racing along the path away from the drones giving chase. As the figure ran closer it revealed a distinct feminine human appearance and her movements suggested that she was a soldier through and through. The trio ran forward and Alenko shot a barrier in front of the woman, the shots cast from the Geth drones bouncing back without breaking it as John began shooting them down one by one. Emily, on a split second decision lowered her gun and raced to the woman's side. As she made it the woman turned and glared in pure hatred as the site behind her.

A man was being held by two Geth, and without warning a spike shot up and impaled the man through his stomach, gutting him like a fish and hoisting him up like a banner of death. His screams lasted for several minutes and the male Shepard and lieutenant Alenko tried their damnedest to take the Geth responsible out. After a few more seconds the battle was over and Emily helped the woman to her feet as her brother and Kaidan walked silently to meet them.

"Thanks for your help Commander," she said taking notice of the rank on Emily's suit, "and… Commander," she quickly added, catching notice of John's, "I didn't think I was going make it."

The siblings merely nodded in reply.

Instantly the woman stood at the ready, slipping into her military training. She turned to Emily, as she was the one standing in front of the other two personnel; "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. Are you or the other Commander in charge here ma'am?"

Also slipping into her military training the red head nodded before asking, "Give me a status report Williams;" her tone was soft but firm and she ignored the feeling on her brother's eyes on the back of her head.

"Oh man… We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit," she replied pointing vaguely in the direction of the borders; John turned to give the way a good look before the gunnery continued, "We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off all our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since," she replied hardly, clearly angered by everything that had transpassed.

"What happened to your unit?" Emily asked instantly, picking up on the Gunnery's anger, "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"We tried to double back to the beacon," she replied with a sigh, her head lowering in regret and shame, "We walked into an ambush. I don't think any of the others…" she quickly cut herself off before she could speak the words and instead bowed her head and squared her shoulders, "I think I'm the only one left," she finished slowly.

Catching the signs of survivor's guilt, Emily quickly began damage control; "Every marine knows going in that every mission might be their last. They died doing what every marine does best. It's not your fault so don't beat yourself up over it. All you can do now if make sure not to let their deaths be in vain."

Surprised by the N7's words, Williams lifted her head up in surprise and nodded slowly, amazed that she wasn't being blamed for their deaths. John too was surprised, he now added the Gunnery Chief to the list of things to be nice to. If his sister kept this up he thought, he's soon have to add half the galaxy onto that list as well; the thought was both amusing and startling, he didn't mind being the hero every now and then if it made his sister smile, but being a saint was _not_ his cup of tea and he was against being soft with every Tom, Dick, and Harry that they stumbled along in hopes of making the world a better place. Survival of the fittest was the way the world worked.

He was half tempted to bark at the gunnery to set them all straight, but he couldn't deny his sister the opportunity to feel good about herself when it was both cleanly presented and non deadly to do so; instead he merely cleared his throat and asked, "Any idea what kind of enemy we're facing here?"

"I think they're Geth," she replied with conviction, confirming what both Commander's had hoped wasn't true.

Kaidan however was taken off guard, "Geth? They haven't been seen outside the veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?"

Ashley shrugged; "They must have come for the beacon," then, her mind sparking, she continued, "The dig site is close. Just over that rise1 it might still be there," she finished hastily, clearly hoping that her words would be of use.

Sensing her eagerness to help Emily turned towards her brother.

_She won't replace the one we lost Red, _he seemed to say.

_We still need her Johnny. I _know_ that we do._

_I know. Go ahead. _John knew better then to question his sister's gut, and his sister knew better then to _not_ question _his_. It certainly led to interesting circumstances to say the least, he mused to himself.

"We could use your help Williams," the red head offered, the silent conversation over in a matter of micro seconds.

"Aye, aye, ma'am. It's time for payback."

Happy with her reply Emily barked a happy, "Move out!" and the team set off once more, minus Jenkins, plus one Chief Williams.

"The beacon's at the far end of this trench, you can't miss it," the Gunnery added as they raced along the path.

John nodded and took the lead, leaving Emily to cover his flank, _My turn. _

_Pompous ass,_ was his sister's silent reply, _You're just jealous I made nice first_.

_I'm still prettier. _

Emily snorted causing the Lieutenant to glance confusedly at her direction before shots rang out. They had reached the end of the trench and Geth drones were clustered in the way, blacking the team from their goal. John quickly took the assault rifle and began picking them off from afar as Emily, Alenko, and the Gunnery raced forward; Alenko using his biotics to shove the Geth back, and the girls taking the drones out at close range.

The strategy was surprisingly effective and john found himself surprised at the way the group coordinated naturally, as if they had been working together for months instead of a few minutes. That would be something to add to the reports he thought, jogging to catch up. When he made it, he found the three glancing about the area as if something was both drastically wrong and confusing.

"This is the dig site," Ashley stated, "The beacon was _right_ here," she continued, pointing to their feet, "It must have been moved…" she finished angrily, annoyed at the new problem at hand.

"By who? Our side? Or the Geth?" Kaidan inquired to the Gunnery.

"Hard to say," she replied, her anger gone, "Maybe we'll know more when we check out the research camp."

"Then we make for the camp," John replied, the Gunnery nodding, her head tilted slightly, causing her helmet to catch the sun's glare.

"It's just on the top of this ridge. Up the ramps."

"Up the ramps we go then," Emily replied, turning. The group followed suit as they set off yet again to another destination. They didn't get very far when their comms opened link and the turian spoke once more.

"Change of plan Shepards. There's a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I'll wait for you there," he said before the connection ended.

"Johnny," said Emily, her pistol in both hands.

"Yeah Red?"

"I don't like changes in the plan."

"Me neither. I don't like the looks of this," he admitted, scanning the area in front of them for more unwanted company.

"Johnny…"

"Red," he replied.

"I got a bad feeling, real bad," she stated simply. Stealing a glance at his sister he noticed the look in her violet eyes and nodded; that look meant major trouble and he suddenly found himself slipping into the defensive at the sight.

"Don't worry Sis, it'll be over soon," was all he could reply. He wasn't about to lie to her and tell her it was going to be alright, he had no way of knowing if it would or not. But he wasn't going to let anything happen to the only family he had either. He hoped his sister somehow knew this.

They quickly reached the research camp at the top of the ridge, and found it was little more than ashes and skeletal remains of buildings.

"Looks like they hit the camp hard," said Ashley as she took a long look at the area.

"It's a good place for an ambush," Kaidan whispered, "let's keep our guards up…"

"Right," Ashley replied.

As the group slowly crept around looking for any hints of life or any signs of clues, a strange sound caught the blue eyed Shepard's attention. He looked around, trying to pinpoint the cause but it was his sister's gasp that brought his attention to the culprit.

On the spikes, bodies of the long dead began glowing with blue lights, their skin turning from flesh into metal and circuitry, their mouths still open from screaming in agony.

"Oh god," Kaiden cried as the bodies were lowered to the ground, "They're still alive!"

"What the _hell_ did the Geth _do_ to them?" cried the Gunnery in disbelief as the once human figures began shuffeling towards them.

"Stop right there!" Alanko cried as they came closer.

"I doubt they can even hear us lieutenant," John cried over the noise of his gun as they began racing towards the group. There was no way in _hell_ that one of those _things_ was getting anywhere _near_ his sister.

It took several rounds for the husks to go down and the other squad mates soon opened fired to help out the helmeted Commander. A few of them seemed to explode with biotics and electricity, causing Alenko and Emily to jump and barrel roll to safety, Ashley fared better, and managed to keep out of the husks reach behind an oversized crate that seemed almost indestructible. Whatever kind of material it was Emily decided, she wanted all of her things to be made from it in future. Grinning at the thought as the lieutenant pulled her to her feet the read head bounced back into the fray with disregard to ammo wastage and simply let herself enjoy the thrill of the fight.

Her happiness was rather infectious and soon the other three personnel were grinning as well, and when the last husk went down Kaidan let out a happy bark and high fived the violet eyed Commander before shrinking down and sobering up at her brother's sharp gaze. He quickly turned his attention to exploring the wreckage while Emily, oblivious to the unspoken reprimand, quickly made her way to the empty buildings, finding a few packets of medi-gel and a few loose credits which she happily took without consideration; she may have been an N7 marine true and blue, but when you grew up on the streets you _always_ went through life making the most of what you find, and the Captain and the good Doctor never minded the extra spoils she and her brother brought back. Battle was costly, and every little bit helped.

The guns she found she tossed out to the others, Ashley and Alanko picking them up wordlessly and stuffing them away under the blue eyed Commander's watchful gaze before the red head tried the next building only to find the door unrelenting.

"That door," Ashley stated with concern, "It's closed, security systems engaged."

Not bothering to reply, John stepped forward and began a manual override as his sister and the Gunnery watched in silence. Normally, such an action would have been against regulations, but she supposed that the Commanders knew what they were doing and could find no legitimate reason to stop their actions as the door slid open and found herself reaching for her gun as a gasp sound from inside the building. John and his sister rushed inside only to lower their weapons in surprise as the woman before them began to speak.

"Humans! Oh thank the Maker," she exhaled gratefully, "I'm Doctor Warren, quickly! Close the door before they come back!" she finished hurriedly, her pitch rising in fear.

A fellow male doctor hissed in agreement.

"What are you doing here," Emily asked, confused.

"I was in charge of the excavation here," Dr. Warren replied more calmly, "we hid in the shed when the Geth attacked... They must have been after the beacon…"

"That is the general consensus, yes," John spat sarcastically, causing the woman to flinch.

"It wasn't here though," she added quickly, her fear having returned once more, "it was moved to the spaceport this morning, Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp," she continued as Emily shot a look at her brother.

_That's where Nihlus went._

"When the attack came the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us," the doctor continued, unaware of the sibling's silent communication.

At her words the man spoke up, clearly shook up by the incident, his voice quivering, "No one is saved. The age of humanity is ended. Soon nothing but corpses and ruin will remain…" he trailed off, lost in his despair.

"What's wrong with your assistant?" John asked, worried of how his manner might affect his sister.

"Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit... unstable," she replied sadly, as she wrung her hands, "Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."

John knew that coin far too well and suddenly wished Emily was outside with the Lieutenant and the Gunnery rather than in the same breathing space with the frightened man. The last thing he wanted was for his sister to slip into a mood. As he was about to order his sister to check on the others however, Emily walked over to the deranged man and said something so quietly to him that John couldn't make out the words.

Manuel started shaking a bit and replied, "Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand that there is no escape? No, no… I am not mad… Nor are you red fire, no… We are the only same ones left!" he hissed, shaking Emily by her shoulders. The red head quickly shoved him off and drew back beside her brother, startled at the man's words as John glared at the man.

"I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack," Dr. Warren replied in way of apology, wary of what would happen next.

"Say good night Manuel," the helmeted Shepard singsonged as he walked towards the assistant who had layed hands on his sibling.

"You can not silence the truth!" he cried as he drew back from the suddenly very intimidating man, "My voice must be heard!" he continued as John raised his arm to swing.

The hands on his arm were the only reason John stopped; he cast at glace at his sister who was shooting him a glare._ Fine_, he thought, drawing himself back and regaining his composure, _but not again_. He mentally added this to his list of this to talk to his sister about; one simply did not just let everyone get away with threatening their safety.

To save face he turned to the Gunnery standing in the doorway; "Williams," he stated.

"Sir?"

"Take us to the spaceport."

"Aye aye Sir," she replied before spinning on her heels and heading off, Alanko quickly following suit.

"Good bye Manuel, Doctor," Emily tossed happily over her shoulders as she followed her brother out of the shed.

As the pair watched the commanders take their leave Dr. Warren heard her assistant mutter, "The spirit of living creatures is in the wheels…"

"Manuel?" she asked hesitantly.

"When Adam delved, and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?" he finished as the door sealed shut once more.

The doctor found herself almost wishing that her assistant _had_ gotten the daylight knocked out of him.

Outside, the Shepards were closely following the chief Gunnery once more when the sound of a single gunshot grabbed their collective attention and paused them in their tracks.

"Johnny?"

"Yeah Red?"

"Bad feeling."

With that the n7's raced forward at top speed, the Gunnery keeping a close second and Lieutenant Alanko trailing close behind. When they reached the top of the next ridge the Commanders paused only long enough to take in the situation at hand before drawing their guns. There was wreckage everywhere, more patches of flames, and off in the distance, a very very menacing looking black ship surrounded by red static. It appeared to be taking off.

"What is that?" Kaidan asked, in reference to the ship, "Off in the distance?"

"It's a ship! Look at the size of it!" Ashley cried in both awe and horror.

"That's _not_ good," Kaidan continued.

"It is pretty damn big Johnny," Emily added.

"I'm still prettier, come on!" he spat before racing forward as the ship left and shots rang out, "Looks like we got too much company Sis," he shouted over the fray as he open fired.

Emily and the others immediately followed suit and took aim at the husks and then at the turrets, cautiously dodging the overloading husks on their way to keep their shields protected. As they continued forward, another shed like building caught the red head's eye and she broke apart from the others.

"Commander!" Alakno cried as he caught her racing off.

The cry caught John's attention and he spun around, leaving himself exposed to enemy fire and it was by the Gunnery's grace that he was able to double back alive.

The group managed to catch up with the female Shepard right as the door slid open and they quickly quieted when they heard voiced from inside.

"Everybody stay calm out there, we're unarmed and we're coming out," one voice rang out.

Another voice, a scared female's followed, "Is it safe? Are they gone?"

"You're okay now," Emily stated calmly, "Nobody's going to hurt you."

"Those things were crawling around the shed, they would have found us for sure! We owe you our lives," said the first voice.

"I-I still can't believe it," a third voice interrupted, also female but older sounding, "when that ship came down I thought it was all over!"

"It showed up right before the attack! Knew it was trouble when I saw it so we made a break for the sheds," the first voice continued.

Emily nodded and ordered gently, "Tell me everything you remember about the attack."

John almost facepalmed and added another talk to his growing list, one about stopping to get the lifestory from every person that they met.

"We three were working the fields when the ship came. We just saw it and ran, don't know anything about the attack after that. Don't know what happened to the rest of the crew," the first voice replied sadly.

"They were near the garage, right where that ship came down, on the spaceport. No way that they survived," answered a fourth voice.

John found himself actually wondering just how people were in there.

"You don't know that!" Snapped the third voice, "If they made it to the garage they could have survived!"

"Can you tell me anything about the ship you saw?" Emily asked, tossing her brother a look that said, _I'm almost done here_.

"Too busy running to get a good look at it, sorry," the first voice began only to be interrupted by the third, "Tell them about the noise Cole, tell them about the awful noise!"

A sigh was heard before the first voice replied, "As it descended it made this shriek of the damned… some kind of signal… But it sounded like it was coming from inside your own head."

"It was probably trying to block communications," John replied as he glanced over his weapon absently, already quite bored with these people.

"Whatever it was," the first voice said in a tone that sent chills up the squad's spines, "it felt like it was tearing right through my skull. Made it nearly impossible to think."

Suddenly feeling very creeped out the red head replied, "We have to go now," as she took a step back. Before they could leave however one of the voices piped up John's interest.

"Hey Cole, we're just farmers, these guys are soldiers, maybe we should give them the stuff…"

"Jeeze Blake, learn to shut your mouth," Cole replied.

"You have something to tell us Cole?" John asked firmly, smiling as he pictured the man squirming.

"Some guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring. Nothing big. In exchange for some of the profits we let them store their stuff in our sheds."

"You're breaking the law Cole," John replied smoothly. A lion flicking his tail happily as he watched the mouse quiver beneath his paws.

"Hell we're not hurting anybody," he replied, "Most of the time we don't even know what's in the packages, we just thought that there might be something in here that we could use. I found a pistol and I thought that it might come in handy if those things come back. …But I'm guessing that you'll get more use of it than me."

John made to reply that indeed he would when he felt his sister glaring at him. He turned to look at her and she cocked her head towards the dozen or so guns that the Lieutenant and Gunnery were laden with, clearly saying, _we don't need anymore_. _Let them keep it. _

_It was smuggled. It's against the _law _sis._

_They might need it. _

_Fine._

Their conversation took a fraction of a second longer than normal and the chief Gunnery's voice rang out in a question of her own.

"Who's your contact in the Spaceport Cole, what was his name?"

"He's not a bad guy!" Cole stumbled quickly, "I don't want to get him in trouble. Besides, I'm no snitch."

That was a sentiment that John and his sister could understand, a lesson branded into them from their time in the Tenth Street Reds. The chief though continued her questioning.

"He might have something to do with this whole attack Cole," Ashley insisted, "we need his name, it's important."

"…Yeah, ok. If you put it like that… Um, right. His name's Powell, works the docks in the spaceport if he's still alive. Good luck."

With that John quickly led the team away from the voices in the shed, eager to prevent anymore talking that was no doubt wasting precious time on their mission. They quickened their pace as they drew nearer to the containment cell, narrowly avoiding being burnt to a crisp by the fires still raging.

"Commander… Shepard…" Kaidan called softly, causing the siblings to draw closer to him, "It's Nihlus," he finished as John knelt by the dead turian.

"A turian?" Ashley asked surprised, "You know him?"

He flipped the Spectre onto his back, checking the bullet wound as Emily gave a single silent nod.

"He's a Spectre," Kaidan replied, "He was with us on the Nor-"

He was cut off by a scuffeling noise and the gunnery's cry, "Something's moving behind those creates," she shouted, drawing her weapon as the Commanders were already closing in on their target with deadly and unsettling synchronization. The chief made a mental note never to get on their bad list as she moved to cover their left flank.

A man popped up from behind the crates, flailing his arms wildly; "Wait don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human!"

"Sneaking up on us like that nearly got you killed," Emily growled, her brows still knitted in anger.

"I'm sorry! I was… hiding," he confessed, "From those creatures…" then taking a breath he gestured to himself and said, "My name's Powell, I saw what happened to the turian. The other one shot him."

"I need to know how Nihlus died," the red headed Commander stated, her words an order and her eyes leaving no room for argument while John found himself equally wanting the information.

"Well t-the other one got here first, he was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew each other," he continued, scratching his head, "Your friend seemed to relax and then he let his guard down. And then… Saren shot him. Right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind these crates."

"We were told the beacon was brought to the spaceport," John asked, earning a nod from the Gunnery, "What happened to it?" he asked taking a quick glance around.

"It's over on the other platform," Powell replied, "Probably where that Saren guy was headed. He hopped on that cargo train right after he killed your friend. I _knew_ that beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to _hell _since we found it…"

"How come you're the only one to survive," Emily asked curiously, tilting her head at the pathetic looking man, "Why didn't anyone else try to his behind the crates?"

"They never had a chance. I was…" he sighed and then admitted, "I was already behind the crates when the attack started…"

"Wait a minute," Kaidan interrupted, "You were hiding behind the crates _before_ the attack?"

"Sounds like someone was shirking their duties…" Ashley implies, shifting her wait and crossing her arms.

"I… I sometimes need a nap to get through my shift… I sneak off behind these crates to catch forty-winks where the supervisor can't find me…" he chuckled softly.

"You sur_vived_ because you're _lazy_?" Ashley spat angrily in disbelief; if this man were under her charge she'd have shot him on the spot. All her fellow men, hardworking, honest, _dead_… and this _bum _got to _live_?

Emily felt the Gunnery's rage intensify her own, she snarled and pointed an accusing finger at the cowardly man before them, "_First_ you ditch work. _Then_ you _cower_ behind here while the Geth _butcher_ everyone else!"

"I don't even have a gun," he replied, "What was I supposed to do? Run out there and die?" he asked rhetorically, "I couldn't save them. Nobody could. It was... horrible," he trailed off, verging on tears.

Emily having put Powell on the bad list, John drove straight in; "you're Cole's contact here on the docks. For the smuggling ring."

"What?" he asked, jerking upright, "What? No! I mean, I'm a smuggler, so what? None of it matters now! Who cares," he asked, trying to free himself from his own tangled web, "the supervisor is dead, the entire crew is dead, none of it matters now..."

John nodded and felt the pure hatred rippling from his sister's stare into the whiny man. Fighting off a grin he asked casually, "Anything here that we can use against the Geth perchance?"

Thinking the question was an invitation to his freedom the smuggler hastily nodded, "A shipment of grenades came in last week. Nobody notices if a few small pieces go missing from the military orders," he offered happily.

His confession only sealed his fate.

"You greedy son of a bitch!" Ashley spat, "We're out her e risking our lives trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how to rip us off?"

"I never thought you'd actually _need_ them," Powell replied hastily, his hands up before him, "Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? …How was _I_ supposed to know?"

"Hand over those grenades," Emily ordered sternly, her voice filled with venom.

"They're yours," he replied pointing to a bag in the corner, "My smuggling days are over, I swear!"

John signaled to Alanko to retrieve the bag before aiming his rifle, stopping short when his sister began to speak.

"A lot of marines died out there Powell. Those grenades could have come in handy," she said turning around, "If I were you I'd think of some way to make it up to them," she cast over her shoulder. The look in her violet eyes told her brother, _a warning will do_. John was about to shoot the man's leg when Powell spoke up.

"Yeah, there is… There is something else I was saving," he said quietly, unaware of how close he had just gotten to being shot, "Could be worth a fortune, experimental technology. Top of the line," he added with more determination. Emily turned around and nodded at the Gunnery who stepped forward and ripped the confiscated item from his hands.

"Take it! I don't need it! I swear I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I'm sorry."

"We need to find that beacon before it's too late," Emily snapped, turning around once more, the other squad mates quickly following suit.

"Take the cargo train," Powell called after them, "that's where the other turian went!"

As the group made their way to the other platform they battled through more husks and the occasional drone, though most of their quarry now seemed to consist of Geth Troopers, which the Commanders took as a sign that they were heading in the right direction. As they made it down the nearest flight of stairs, they were met with a Geth Destroyer.

Thankfully the strip was narrow and filled with things to take cover behind, unfortunately, the destroyer was a bitch to take down and John swore as his gun quickly overheated. Sensing her brother's distress Emily lowered her pistol and ran forward, meeting the synthetic beast head on before hitting him with a shockwave that sent the Geth stumbling over the edge onto the flight below where it remained lifeless as she moved on to the remaining Geth troopers. John's gun reached optimum functionality and he quickly joined her in finishing the last of them off.

"Risky move sis," he commented as the last one went down.

"Bite me brother," she replied without thinking as she activated the train's commuter control.

John grinned as the group boarded. They took the few idle minutes to do a quick status report, checking for any injuries or damage to their suits or weapons. Alanko, after giving his gun a thorough once over traded his Razler for one of the guns they had found in the research station. Ashley looked at him oddly from behind her helmet but said nothing. In a battle the difference between life and death was often the difference between a good gun or a bad one.

As they disembarked Kaiden cried out in alarm when he caught sight of a large pipe compiled container.

"Demolition charges!" he exclaimed as john raced to dismantle it, "The Geth must have planted them!"

"Hurry!" Ashley cried as John finished the override, "We need to find them all and shut them down!"

Nodding the man jogged forward, his blue eyes iced over as he searched for any more of the charges as they stumbled across more Geth. John flicked his left hand forward and across to where he had spotted another bomb, signaling his sister to dismantle it while he and the others kept the Geth's attention.

Emily nodded once and ran forward, keeping as low to the ground as she could while she dodged crates and Geth until she reached her target. Quickly, she began to shut it down as john and Lieutenant Alanko provided cover fire. Ashley took the brunt of the fire this time, as white and pink armor was more visible against the grey metal then the blue and black of Kaidan's or the blue and white of Johns, though like his sister, he had a red stripe painted across one arm in remembrance of his time in the Reds. Emily's armor was black and red, and sported the stripe, though John had often listened to her complain that she wanted purple instead, leaving her brother to argue the impracticality of the whish.

The area was quickly cleared and they moved on, Ashley taking time enough to swipe a packet on medi-gel onto the hole in her leg that she now sported as they headed to the next charge. John made quick work of it as Emily gave the Gunnery a once over, prompting the chief to snap a respectful, "I'm _fine _Commander," before the matter was dropped. The four quickly made their way to the last charge that were surrounded by more Geth. Emily took the rear while her brother headed the lead, Ashley and Alanko in the middle.

They managed to clear out the area and disarm the bomb with half a minute to spare before heading down a flight of stairs into another Geth riddled territory that sported a long green lit spike that Emily assumed was the beacon. Seeing as it wasn't exactly going anywhere, she and her bother ordered their team to concentrate on downing the Geth before someone else got hurt. After a good five minutes the area was secure and John signaled Emily and Ashley to investigate the surrounding creates and storage lockers, hoping that they'd stumble across more discarded weapons or medi-gel if they were lucky.

While they were doing that John did a quick run of the perimeter to confirm that the coast was clear, leaving Alakno to look at the beacon.

"Eden prime will never be the same again," he said sadly to himself, thinking of all he'd just witnessed.

With their respective duties carried out the group converged slowly around the green glowing beacon. Emily looked at her brother, her eyes almost pleading, _bad feeling_.

"Normandy," John stated, opening connection to the ship, "the beacon is secure, requesting immediate evac," he continued as the Lieutenant crept closer to the beacon, and the Chief Gunnery watching in awe.

"This is unbelievable," he said amazed, "real working Prothean technology… Unbeleivable!" he continued, observing the glow.

"It wasn't doing _anything_ like that when we dug it up," Williams stated in reply before drawing back to stand by the blue coated Commander.

"Something must have activated it…" he continued, unaware that the woman had left.

John at this point had just about finished his call, "Rodger Normandy, standing by;" as he and the Gunnery caught sight of Alanko headed closer to the beacon before being hit with the green light.

The glow pulled the Lieutenant closer, dragging him against his will, and flailed as if no longer in control of his own movements.

Before either of them could react Emily raced forward and tackled the man to the ground, pushing him out of harm's way. The instant his sister had moved John surged forward, fully intending to pull her back from whatever the green glow was going to do before being stopped short by the Gunnery.

"No, don't touch her! It's too dangerous!" she shouted, John stopping short.

The blue eyed Commander pulled the Lieutenant further back and watched in anger as his sister was pulled in and raised into the air, arms and legs outstretched, occasionally twitching.

For Emily, the glow was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

Images blasted into her mind in no order, no alignment; all was pain and chaos, all was red and tormented. She felt as though her very skull was about to burst and was left at the mercy of the beacon, unable to even think freely of anything but the images being trust into her head. red skies, burning planets, large hands falling from the sky. Death everywhere, strange creatures, so much pain. Pain everywhere. So much death, death, all would die, all had become lost and Emily felt herself lost with them before blacking out completely as the beacon finished its message and spat her away like a toddler disregarding a well used toy for the final time.

Immediately Shepard and Alenko raced to the red head, the sibling pushing the Lieutenant away as he rolled his sister over. Her face was still, her eyes closed, hair spilling over her face in disarray.

Immediately he checked her vitals as the Gunnery helped the Lieutenant to his feet and watched in silence as the beacon blew itself up.

Unable to stop his fear the male Commander uttered in a blind rage, "If she _dies_ Lieutenant, _I'm going to show you why we are known as the butchers of Torfan_."

* * *

><p><strong>Well that's as good of a place as any to cutoff the chapter, wouldn't you say? <strong>

**Now, in case you might be wondering, John is at heart a Renagon, and Emily a Paragade. They stay mostly on the same page, but the moments where they don't are always interesting and slightly deadly. **

**John is obviously protective of his sister, and pretty much only of her. As far as he's concerned everyone else can go taking a running leap at a krogan. He also has a certain respect for their Captain and Doctor Chakwas. if given the choice, he'll shoot first and leave the questions to whoever mops up the mess. Every once in awhile he'll do something "nice" or "good" if something particularly strikes him as being "wrong" but mostly he stays pretty ruthless until his sister asks him to be otherwise.**

**Emily mostly cares about no one, if she has any real cares at all, (which she usually doesn't) and considers her brother near immortal. If given the option she'll mostly attempt to do "the right thing" even though she doesn't always know what that thing is, or if it goes against what everybody else's definition of "right" is. usually her actions are never premeditated and never questioned after doing so. Unfortunately, she also has a bit of a temper and a dark side that her brother works hard to keep under control. The Opanis method is tied into that. **

**The Ophanis method probably won't be used until much later in the story, and I won't explain what it is until then, and yes I added it completely to the story in order to add another personal layer to the Shepards. And yes, I promise that it will actually make sense. The name is taken from a specific class of Angels, the wheels, and Manuel's first line after the Commanders departures references that. **

**For those interested the specific lines he was referencing were: **

"When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures [Cherubim] was in the wheels." Ezekiel 10:17 NRSV.

**Granted that bit_ was _taken from the internet so I don't know how accurate it is. But it fit what I wanted. **

**Also, being spiritual but not necessarily religious myself, please excuse any errors made on that front. Thankfully, Mass Effect is a blanket metaphor so I shouldn't botch anything up too badly. **

**having stayed up for the past ten hours or so writing all of this chapter plus author's notes, I'm pretty hungry so I'll meet up with you all in the good doctors medbay. Catch you there. **

**Happy Reading. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello hello! **

**This chapter is basically a cutscene before all of the action on the Citadel, so you don't have to worry about the massive word count this time. It's also mostly Emily centered this go round but I promise that both siblings will get more or less the same amount of attention. **

**Thanks again to all who have read, reviewed, and or added this story to their favorites. I'm honored. **

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><p>Emily's eyes opened slowly, taking a few moments to bat away the feelings of disorientation and grogginess. She ignored the brain splitting pain in her head as she attempted to sit up to get her bearings. At her movement John stirred.<p>

"Doctor, Doctor Chakwas! I think she's waking up!" he bellowed as he moved to help his sister sit up, only to be batted away with a dismissive flick of the red head's hand.

She groaned and held her head as the good Doctor walked into the room.

"You had us worried there Shepard," she stated calmly, her words filled with amused relief, "How are you feeling?" she asked in a more professional tone of voice.

"Like I've just taken a krogan headbut to my skull. Besides that I feel pretty chipper Doc," she replied, shaking her head a bit, causing her hair to swish against her face, "And I'm calling first dibs on the shower."

"I'm afraid you've woken up too late for that my dear, you've been out for a good while now. But I'm sure you'll find the facilities open, complete with fixed water heaters."

"How long was I out?" Emily inquired, slightly curious.

"About fifteen hours. Something must have happened down there with that beacon I think."

"It's my fault," Kaidan's voice wrung out apologetically as he stepped from the shadows where he had been sitting quietly, "I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way."

John, still having not forgiven the man in the slightest spat in reply, "We expected better of you Lieutenant, you endangered not only my sister's life but the entire mission!" he finished, slamming his fist against wall beside him to emphasize his point.

"Don't be so hard on him Commander," Chakwas retorted, curbing the male Shapard's anger, knowing full well if anyone else had tried to correct him, he would have blasted them through the walls of the ship; "We have no idea if that's what set off the beacon. Unfortunately, we will never get the chance to find out," she continued as she checked Emily's vitals.

Kaidan remained silent and John watched as the good Doctor checked his sister's response to visual stimulation, resisting the urge to grab her hand as she flinched away from the harsh light of the small scope. Instead he continued with what had happened, knowing his sister hated being left in the dark, "The beacon exploded, a system overload maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. Cheif Gunnery Williams helped me carry you back to the ship," he continued, making a mental note to boost up his strength so he would never need help carrying his injured sister again. Assuming she'd ever _get_ hurt again. That certainly wasn't going to happen anytime soon on his watch.

After Chakwas pulled away she began scribbling on her datapad and the red head asked, "What's the damage?"

"Physically, you're fine my dear," she began, scrolling through the report, "But I've detected some abnormal brain activity -abnormal brain waves," she clarified before continuing, "I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, which for you my dear is saying something. Of course such signs are typically associated with intense dreaming..." she trailed off.

"More like a nightmare Doctor…" the N7 replied softly.

"Oh?" the Doctor asked, her interest piqued.

"I saw…" Emily began before faltering, she looked at her brother and towards the Lieutenant before wringing her hands and lowering her head, suddenly afraid to admit anything; "I'm not sure what I saw. I saw death. Destruction," she continued, raising her gaze to the doctors, "Nothing's really clear."

"Hmm, I better add this to my report. It may— Oh, Captain Anderson," she said, not at all surprised to see him checking up on the girl.

"How's our favorite XO holding up Doctor?" he asked, tossing the red head a wink.

Emily smiled lopsidedly as Chakwas replied, "All the readings look normal, I'd say the Commander's going to be fine. Emily too," she added, grinning at the joke as John and the Captain chuckled. Truthfully, neither the Captain nor the Doctor knew which sibling technically held the title of Executive Officer, but as the pair functioned as one well oiled machine neither cared enough to get picky.

"Glad to hear it," the Captain responded before dipping into a business attitude, "I need to speak to Emily, in _private_," he added as he glanced at John and Alanko.

"Ay aye Captain," Kaidan replied with a stiff salute, speaking for the first time since his reprimand, "I'll be in the Mess if you need me."

Ignoring him completely, John placed a hand on his sister's shoulder; "I'll be outside the door if you need me Red," he offered standing up; he only turned to leave when the red head nodded, seeing the worry lined across his face.

Chakwas nodded at the remaining Commander but stayed silent as she left to her stock room.

The Captain took a seat on the edge of the cot, "Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard Commander, you sure you're okay?"

Emily looked at her hands and the scars marring them in silent contemplation before replying, "I feel bad for Jenkins. It was my fault he died. He was just a kid…"

"Now Shepard," he tsked, placing a hand on her shoulder, "That wasn't your fault, and if I remember correctly you said yourself that marines die? That all we can do is make sure their deaths are not in vain?"

The words suddenly triggering her memory of the Gunnery Emily asked sharply, "Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?"

He nodded in the negative, setting the red head at ease, "I figured we could use a soldier like her. She's been reassigned to the Normandy."

Nodding contently Emily replied absently, "Good, Williams is a good soldier… She deserves it."

"Your brother and the Lieutenant agree with you. That's why I added her to our crew," he replied proudly.

Sensing an air of seriousness creeping into the room Emily asked softly, "You said you needed to speak to me in private Captain?" her head slightly lowered; she was suddenly very afraid that she had done something very, very wrong.

"I won't lie to you Shepard," he replied, standing up, "things look bad, Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed and the Geth are invading. The Council is going to want answers," he finished with his hands clasped behind his back.

"The Geth would have wiped out the entire colony if we hadn't stopped them Sir," she replied, her heart in her throat, "And Johnny never used the phrase."

"I'll stand behind your report Shepard," the Captain nodded before turning away, "You and your brother are damned heroes in my books. That's not why I'm here," he continued, turning to face her once more, "It's Saren, the other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with Geth it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's dangerous Red, and it means trouble. Saren's dangerous, and he _hates_ humans."

"Why?" she asked with as much innocence as curiosity.

"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way Shepard, but most of them don't do anything about it. Think of it as a rival gang springing up out of nowhere, trying to take over your city if it helps; Saren has allied himself with this "rival gang" and I don't know how. I don't know why. I only know it had something to do with that beacon," he admitted sadly, "But you were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything?" he asked hopefully, "Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"

Leaning back the woman nodded slowly, causing the Captain hold his breath, "Just before everything went black… I had some kind of vision."

"A vision?" he asked as he started to pace, his mind whirling with the possibilities and implications, "What kind of vision? What did you see?"

"A warning of some kind… There was red everywhere… Pain. Death. I saw synthetics."

"Geth?"

"I don't know," Emily replied before her eyes glazed over slightly as she strove to remember, "There were hands reaching down… Massive. People Butchered. Slaughtered. Chaos… and fear…" she whispered, her head in her hands, her body beginning to shake.

If it had come from anyone else's lips, Captain Anderson would have dismissed the claim as a trauma induced nightmare. As it was, the woman before him had never once steered him wrong; "We need to report this to the Council Shepard."

"What are we going to tell them Sir?" huffed with a grim snort, "That I had a bad dream? Or that the Butcheress has lost her nerve?"

"We don't know what information was stored in that beacon Shepard. Lost Prothean technology? Lost blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it. But I know Saren, I know his reputation. I know his politics. He believes that humans are a blight against the galaxy… This attack was an act of war!" he accused as Emily slid of her cot and stood up, "He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of Geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"

"John and I will find some way to take him down Sir," the Commander replied in earnest sincerity.

The captain shook his head, and sighed, both pleased with the pledge and disheartened at the journey ahead; "It's not that easy son. He's a Spectre. He can _go _anywhere, _do _almost _any_thing. That's why we need the council on our side."

"Sir, if I may…"

"Yes Commander?"

"Why are you telling me this instead of John?"

The Captain sighed and offered her a small smile, "Because John doesn't care about anything that you don't care about. If you say jump, he asks you how high. -If we want _any_ chance in succeeding _you_ have to want Saren _stopped_. _You_ have to show the Council that _you_ won't stop until he's down, -_Respectively_," he corrected with a slight chuckle, "Lord knows your brother would tell them off before they said good morning. He can't stand politicians anymore then I can."

"So all I have to do is talk pretty to the Council, tell them Saren's gone rogue and convince them to withdrawal his Spectre status?"

The Captain nodded; "Simple as that. -I'll contact the Ambassador and see if he can't arrange an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as _soon_ as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close come to think of it; I'll have a word with your brother while you tell Joker to bring us in to dock," he firmly suggested as he headed out of the medbay.

Emily waited a few minutes for the man to get a decent head start and tested her mobility by taking a few cautious steps. When she failed to topple over or have her knees buckle beneath her, the redhead plastered on a lopsided grin and marched out of the medbay, pausing long enough only to make sure that her brother and her Captain where nowhere in sight before beginning her journey to the cockpit. On her way however, she was called out to by Lieutenant Alanko and absently made her way over to the man.

"Glad to see you're okay, Commander," he shouted briskly, looking the red headed woman over before giving a quick salute.

"Lieutenant."

"I'm glad to see you're alright Mam'am," he repeated, to emphasize his sincerity in the matter, "Losing Jenkins was hard on the crew, and I'm glad we didn't lose you too."

Guilt momentarily panging her conscious, the N7 replied, "Yeah… I wish I could have done something to save him… Stupid kid," she continued with a shake of her head, "What about you? How are you holding up?"

"Between you and me Commander? You're brother scares the shit outta me. But besides that I'm fine enough. And don't beat yourself up about Jenkins ma'am, I was there, you did everything right. It was just bad luck."

"Good to hear you hold me in such regards Lieutenant. And don't worry about Johnny," she added, her violet eyes sparking brightly in the flickering lights, "he's great once you get on his good side."

"After what happened on Eden prime ma'am? I don't think I _deserve_ to be on his good side," he replied with a shake of his head, "this has been a hellava shakedown cruise. Our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another. The Citadel Council's not going to be happy about that. Probably use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance."

"You sure don't walk around with your eyes closed do you Alanko?" Emily replied grinning, "You a career man?"

"Yes ma'am. A lot of biotics are, I'd figure you know a bit about that too. We're not restricted but we sure don't go around undocumented either. Might as well earn a paycheck for it… Besides my father served, made him proud when I enlisted. …Eventually that is. What about you? Is that why you're here? Your family?"

Though the question was innocent, Emily's eyes darkened and the scar along her lip became more pronounced as her face grew bleak, "I've never met my parents. If they wanted to claim me they would have contacted me after that mess a few years back. If they ever contacted Johnny, he never said."

"Ah, that's right… Torfan. Uh, Didn't mean to bring up anything unpleasant ma'am," he backtracked quickly, fumbling over his words.

"Just don't mention it again and I won't have to feed you to the airlock," the red head replied happily, her smirk firmly in place; "And as a preventive measure for your safety L-T? Don't let my brother hear you talking about it either."

Emily walked off, grinning devilishly as she heard a faint gulp from the Lieutenant behind her. She didn't get very far before she was hailed by the Chief Gunnery.

"Williams," she answered, and feeling particularly pleasant, she trodding over with a nod.

"I'm glad to see your okay Commander, the crew could use some good news after what happened to Jenkins."

"You've heard about that?"

The gunnery nodded, "For what it's worth I offer my condolences."

"He was a kid. Foolish, reckless. I warned him… I just wish it had been enough."

The Gunnery nodded once more; "Part of me feels guilty over what happened to Jenkins Ma'am, if Jenkins was still alive I might not be here."

Emily snorted, making the Chief's eyes mist over in confusion, "You're a good soldier Williams, you _belong_ on the Normandy. I told Johnny so."

"Thanks Commander, that means a lot," she replied, her eyes beginning to light up.

"So are you holding up okay?"

"I've seen friends die before Commander, it comes with being a marine, I guess you can understand that pretty well. But I saw my whole unit wiped out… and you never get used to seeing dead civilians."

"Actually dead civilians are nothing new to me. Saw them all the time back on Earth in the gutters. My brother and I used to put several of them there too come to think of it…"

The Gunnery's eyes opened in surprise, unsure what to make of the revelation, "That must have been horrible, ma'am."

"It never bothered me, but John might not have gotten over it, but trust me when I say it all gets easier as you go along."

"Thank you Commander," Ashley replied, "I must admit I was a little worried about joining the Normandy. It's kinda nice when someone makes you feel welcome."

"Well I think you're gonna fit in just fine Williams, and I know my brother feels the same."

"Thanks Commander," replied the Gunnery with a happy salute.

Emily nodded before taking her leave to finally have that chat with the pilot. When she reached his chair he turned and grinned at her.

"Good timing Red, I was just about I was just about to bring us in to the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work…"

As Emily raced to the window to get a better look she was soon joined by Alanko and the Gunnery.

"Woah," Ashely exclaimed at a strange looking ship beginning to dock on the citadel, 'Look at the size of that ship!"

"Which ship _is _that?" Emily asked softly, her face almost pressed to the glass.

"The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet," Kaidan added in wonder.

"Well, size isn't everything," Joker replied dryly.

"Why so touchy Joker?" Ashley taunted, earning a snicker from the redhead.

"I'm just saying you need firepower too," he replied indignantly.

"Look at that monster!" said the woman, her face lighting up, "Its main gun could rip through the barriers of any Alliance fleet!"

"Good things it's on our side then," Kaidan replied, earning a nod from the redheaded Commander.

Ignoring the three other people in the pit, Joker opened connection to the Citadel; "Citadel Control, this is the SSV Normandy requesting permission to land."

"Stand by for Clearance Normandy," came the reply as Joker carefully steered them through the air riddled with other ships; "Clearance granted," the voice rang out again, "You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator."

"Rodger, Alliance Tower," Joker replied, smiling all the way, "Normandy out."

"Normandy, this is Alliance Tower, please proceed to dock 442."

"Rodger that, Normandy out," Joker finished, cutting connection. He turned to the Commander, smile still plastered on his face; "So Reddie, you come all the way up here for my charm or my good sense of humor?"

"Neither," Emily replied, her face losing all pleasant expression, causing Joker to become uneasy; "I came to steal your hat," she finished, grinning, as she darted forward and stole the hat from the pilot's head despite his crieds for mercy.

Emily giggled and popped the cap on her head, tucking a few stray hairs behinds her ears and stood a few feet away.

"I hate you, ma'am."

Kaidan and the Gunnery couldn't help but chuckle. They soon stopped however when they heard footsteps approaching the pit. All but Emily nodded respectfully at the male Commander, his sister taking a more childish approach by sticking her tongue out at him. He snorted and plucked the cap from her head and held her at arm's length as he gave it back to the pilot, nodding with a smirk.

"No harm no foul, Sir."

"Glad to hear it Joker," he replied before turning to his sister; "Go hit the showers, we're going to the Citadel in an hour."

Emily nodded before tossing the other three a lopsided smile and trotted off to the nearest bog to wash up.

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><p><strong>Aww I'm sorry, I know I promised a shower scene. But I think I'll save that for when it'll be enjoyed the most. maybe. <strong>

**So writing Captain Anderson and Emily talking was strange in a he's-kinda-like-her-dad-but-isn't kind of way, which is weird, for me, because I don't have much to go on in the way of "father-daughter" interaction. I'm assuming that a military based respect themed relationship is a good way to go about it for the story. I mean, the Captain _seemed_ pretty paternal in the game. But that could very well just be me. **

**-Also, writing Emily in general is at times problematic. She's one fourth of a normal badass shepard, a fourth of a child savant, a fourth of a saint, and a fourth of a monster. ~at least that's how I have her in my head. she might not come across that way at all to anyone reading the story. Don't know. but i do believe this quote is fitting:**

"People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict."

~lemony snicket, the grim grotto.

**let's see... This was another "get to know everyone" chapter, providing the basis for how all all characters are going to interact with each other more or less. I'm sure there's a proper word for that but its 2AM and I can't think of it at the moment. **

**why do i do all my writing this late/early in the night/day you ask? simple. can't sleep. ever. **

**moving on, I still don't know who John is going to be paired with and i think i'm just going to let the story take its course in that regard as its still far to early to be worried over it. **

**on that note, Emily will be going with Liara. if that's going to bother any of you, I'm pretty sure the most painless thing to do would be to just quit the story now before it's too late. **

**as an unrelated sidenote, there has been rumor that bioware has actually listened to the fans and plans on fixing the ending. I dont know if this is true or not, but i'm hoping that by the time i get to the ending of this story, the games will have been "fixed." **

**final summation: TL;DR: Next Chapter is what goes on at the Citadel... **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again, welcome to another chapter of a Tale of two Shepards,**

**I'm your author and i'm here to tell you a little ab-**

**Shepard's. at the Citadel. getting shit done. contains lots of conversations and some good old violence. also poor kaidan... John shall always hate him. XD**

**So as far as chapter's go, its pretty much "a chapter = a mission" type thing. except for this time as its so long. really, this is i think, the MOST eventful day in any shepard's life if you think about it.**

I own nothing.

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><p>A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.<p>

~Cakie Stinnett

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><p>"This is an absolute outrage!" the Ambassador barked angrily in disbelief, "The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!"<p>

"Turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus systems, Ambassador," the salarian Councilman replied calmly.

The asari Councilmember spoke up next, "Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse."

"What about Saren?" Udina asked, "You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!"

Angered by the human's display the turian councilman retorted, "You don't get to make demands of the Council Ambassador."

Immediately the asari spoke up to quell the tension, "Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing. Not before."

With that the three holograms flickered out, leaving the Ambassador feeling no better than when the conversation began. Stuffing his rage down the man turned before straitening his white coat, taking stock of the officers before him. He couldn't help but give into a smirk.

"Captain Anderson," he said before raising a brow, "I see you brought half your crew with you," he drolled, gazing over not only the two soldiers but the two Commanders in tow.

John crossed his arms, deciding instantly that he did not like this man and furthermore that he was never going to trust this man farther than he could kick him. _Probably less then that actually_, he corrected with a grin. Emily, who had been glancing over the edge at the people on the busy decks below, turned her attention to the white coated man and to her Captain.

_He had told her to play nice with the Council_, she thought, _did that extend to the politician before them as well?_

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime," the Captain replied respectfully; at his words the Gunnery and L-T also turned their attentions to the men, now having been brought in to the conversation, "in case you have any questions," he further clarified as he swept his hands behind his back, standing at the commanding form of attention.

The red headed Commander watched her Captain closely, deducing from her superior how to treat the Ambassador. Picking up on his sister's focus, John raised a brow but quickly regained his composure; he didn't want to interrupt whatever she doing.

Still clearly vexed Udina retorted snidely, "I have the mission reports," he stated with emphasis on each word, as if speaking to a simpleton, "I assume they're accurate?"

"They are," the Captain confirmed, then, changing the subject, "Sounds like you've convinced the Council to give us an audience…"

"They were not happy about it," the Ambassador replied, his accent slipping through and implying that the Captain owed him, "Saren is their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."

Unable to quell the words from spilling from his mouth John quickly spoke up, "Well they damn well won't like finding out he _committed_ treason then either."

At Udina's immediate facial reaction of displeasement Emily added calmly but just as firm, "Saren's a threat to every human colony out there. He needs to be stopped and the Council has to believe us or who knows _what_ could happen..."

"Settle down," the Ambassador ordered, pointing accusingly, "You two have done _more_ than enough already to jeopardize your candidacy for the Specters," he continued before digging in, "The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove that you both could get the job _done_. Instead Nihlus is dead and the beacon was destroyed!" he spat, and then his eyes darkened, "But what could we have expected from a couple of butchers?"

Surprised by the blow below the belt Emily's eyes opened wider as John snarled before their Captain rushed to their defense; "That was uncalled for Ambassador."

"Oh?"

"Saren was the reason for Nihlus' death and the destroyed beacon, not theirs," he continued, putting great emphasis on the last two words, "And the mess on Torfan has nothing to do with this."

Making a tactical temporary retreat, Udina relented, but not without one final barb, "Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up some evidence to support your accusations. Otherwise the council might use this as an excuse to keep _you _out of the Spectres," he inferred, gesturing to the Commanders before returning his gaze to the Captain, "Come with me, there's a few things I'd like to go over before the hearing."

Instantly Anderson barked at his Commanders, "Shepards," the siblings responding instantly by standing at attention, then, Anderson preceded more gently, "You and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower. Top Level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in," and with that, the Captain marched off behind the Ambassador, who was still carrying a snide smirk.

Quietly, Ashley moved to stand beside the red headed Commander, "And that's why I hate politicians," she whispered softly to the other woman, shaking her head as Emily smirked.

"And here I thought the Ambassador was such a charming chap," Kaidan replied sarcastically.

John huffed and all but Emily's lopsided smirk disappeared; "don't be jealous Johnny," the vixen cooed, "I'm sure the Captain won't mind if you asked Udina for a date."

"Can it Red," John barked before his anger faded, "I'd rather kiss a _bartarian_ then that rotten ball of shit."

"Language Johnny," Emily tsked, her finger wagging, "Not in front of the kids."

"With all due respect ma'am," Ashley replied smiling, "Fuck you."

The group now chuckling took around the office they were standing in. sparse, save a few potted plants and a couple of unattended computer consoles. Her mischievous side kicking in, Emily asked, "Hey Johnny?"

"Yeah Red?"

"We got enough time?"

"Yup," he replied happily, already heading towards the farthest console.

"Umm, Commanders…" Ashley began, "Isn't that against Regs?"

Taking it upon herself to enlighten the girl, John answered, "Not if we don't get caught. Besides, do you really want the politicians to be the only ones to know what's really going on?"

"Well Sir when you put it like that…"

After a few seconds the blue eyed Shepard had cracked the computer's security code and he turned to the others with a grin, "We're in."

"Look for anything related to us Johnny," Emily replied, leaning over his shoulder happily.

A few clicks on the holographic keys and a few more security overrides later their search yielded one Alliance patrol report. Thinking quickly, the red head scanned the report with her omnitool as her brother quickly logged off the consol and stood back, brushing imaginary hairs from his armor as if nothing had happened.

"Anything relevant ma'am?" Kaidan asked, ignoring the look from her brother.

"Captain Hendrickson had some unusual energy readings during a patrol of the Argos Rho Cluster," Emily replied blankly as she scrolled through the report, "She was concerned about the Hydra System but got pulled out before she could investigate…"

Then, frowning, Emily brought up her omnitool's console and started typing away and for a few moments the group watched her in silence before the Gunnery spoke up.

"Ma'am?"

"There aren't any patrols scheduled for the hydra system. I'm fixing that, now shh."

"That's against regulations!" Ashley replied, equally horrified and equally awed.

"Again Williams, only if we get caught," John replied, proud of his sister taking control of things. If the galaxy _really_ wanted to fix itself, he thought, then all they'd have to do was let the red head run things for a while. He pictured her in formal attire, behind a desk all day and quickly changed his mind. He wanted his sister as far away from that as possible. The girl would die of boredom within the week.

"Done," the violet eyed Commander said, her omnitool switching off. She stood patiently at her brother, waiting for his move.

"Come on then, I'm not going to let Emily's first time at the Citadel be constricted to this damned office," he said, straightening himself up. With that the man turned and headed out of the doors, the others quickly following suit.

Unfortunately, as he left the room, John realized that he didn't really remember his way around or the way that they had come. He cursed himself internally for glaring at the L-T the whole trip there; really though, couldn't the man stare at anything else _besides_ his sister? On that note, he knew his sister loved exploring, so hopefully she wouldn't mind them getting lost should that event occur.

The squad strolled through the door on their left and found themselves in what appeared to be an intergalactic customer service desk, one specializing in Ambassador's concerns instead of consumer product complaints. There was a short round mole like being in an envirosuit and two large hulking beings on all fours that brought forth pictures of trunkless Earth elephants.

The larger trunkless creature in front of the desk seemed to be enraged about something, and when they walked in, they overheard part of his conversation to the one behind the desk.

"I understand what you are saying but these allegations are very serious, I just can't-"

"Hello there humans," said the large creature catching sight of them, interrupting the previous conversation, "Sincere apology but I am here on business and I can't be distracted right now," he said, each word slow and monotonous.

Emily, her curiosity piqued walked closer to him and asked, "You seemed distressed, anything we can do to help?"

"Alarmed response, you heard all of that did you?" he replied, still quite monotone, "This is all going so wrong and it's all that asari Consort's fault. She's the one who started all of this."

"What did this asari do to get you so upset?" Emily asked, as if it was the only logical reply.

John felt the tingling sensation that their trip here was going to be filled with talking to strangers, life stories, and many off record personal missions. That was it, he thought, as _soon_ as his sister was done talking to the dimwitted _thing_ he'd have a choice word with her. They simply didn't have time for all of this. Besides, he thought sarcastically, one of life's greatest lessons was _don't talk to strangers _and if the thing had bitten off more than he could chew with some highclass hooker it was neither his problem nor his sister's.

The creature continued, "I cannot speak more about this problem; it is too sensitive. Suffice to say she has compromised my authority as a diplomat."

"Where could I find this asari consort?" Emily asked, causing her brother to restrain palming his face. Casting a quick glance at the Gunnery, John found she wore such a look as well.

Catching his eye she whispered behind her hand, "Your sister _always_ like this Sir?"

He sighed, shaking his head, his arms crossing over his chest. Williams, taking that as her answer slowly resigned herself to the thought of entertaining Aliens all day. Lieutenant Alanko was thin king much the same thing, albeit his perspective of the thought was much more optimistic.

"She is across the bridge from here. Her offices are easy enough to spot, now goody day human," he finished, turning his face away.

John, sensing his opportunity stepped forward to grab his sister's shoulder before she could worm herself into anything else but to his misfortune the red head was already halfway across the room and speaking with the small fat thing before he had realized she had moved.

"Damnit," he cursed quietly, crossing his arms again.

"Maybe we should just… put her on a leash or something?" the Gunnery suggested, half joking, half hopeful to stop the Alien themed madness.

John shook his head again but smirked as he pictured giving his sister a sharp tug whenever she decided to be the do-gooder. He watched silently as the creature, the thing behind the desk, and his sister conversed. But as the creature grew snippy, John felt the need to teech the small fry some manners.

"I am Din Korlak, volus ambassador," he wheezed through his suit to the red head, "Is there something I can do for you _Earth_ Clan?"

"You seem to have quite a chip on your shoulders, Din" John said, coming to stand intimidatingly behind his sister, "As small as they are."

"You humans are new to the Citadel and yet the Council has showed you great favor!" he accused, finger pointed.

"Chastising rebuke," the creature behind the desk said, "Your species has always been granted many concessions. Volus territory has expanded tenfold since coming to the Citadel."

"Hmph," he scoffed, "Details. We still have no real say in the decisions that affect Citadel space."

Sensing his chance, John shoved his sibling in the direction of the door and kept a firm hold of her they kept walking, Ashely tailing close behind.

"Goodbye ambassador," Kaiden stated respectfully to the volus before racing to catch up with the other three.

When they made it to the hallway John released his sister and she spun around, clearly angered at his actions, which only riled up the man further.

"What the hell'd you do _that_ for?" Emily hissed, her eyes darkening.

"We don't have time for all this crap Red," he snapped, "Now knock it off, we're here for the council, not these _things_."

"Those _things_," Emily began, her voice reflecting every bit of her earned titles, "are _people_, and they have problems too."

"_We. Don't. Have. Time. _For _their_ problems!" he hissed in reply through clenched teeth.

Clearly disappointed in her brother, Emily collected herself like a cobra readying to strike, and spun around before storming towards the door on the opposite end of the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" John barked, his hands finding themselves on his hips.

"Onward," she replied without turning around but pausing in the next doorway to see who, if any, would follow her.

Ashley and Kaiden looked from each N7 and then to each other, unsure of who to follow as both siblings were of the same rank. It would be a personal decision, and one that would no doubt be remembered by both Commanders, and neither wanted to know what the lasting implications of choosing one over the over would be.

Kaiden wanted to follow Emily, both because he thought the woman was right, and because he was worried of what could happen to her if she wandered around alone, despite knowing that the red head was fully capable of fending for herself. However, he had half a mind to stay, knowing that if he moved a muscle in her direction that the blue eyed Commander would vent his frustration on him and that there would be very little he could do about it. Ashley felt the same concern for the red headed woman who had shown her kindness on the Normandy, but was torn as she really didn't want to spend the day interacting with members of the opposite species or follow the violet eyed woman's angry brother around for that matter either.

Thankfully, both operatives were saved from choosing what to do as john sighed, running a hand through his hair before relenting a terse, "Fine," and trotting to bridge the gap.

Letting out a sigh of relief the Chief Gunnery followed them and Kaidan quickly took up the rear, figuring it was the safest place to be. Wordlessly, the group continued down the stairs to another deck, sporting doors on either side. Choosing the left door, the red head led them down another flight of stairs to what appeared to be a large directory, complete with help desk, large holo sings and cushy seats. Striding past the receptionist she gave a quick, "Hello Commanders," as the pair came into view. When Emily paused and glanced in her direction, she continued, "The human ambassador is up the stairs, first room on the right."

"You know who we are?" John asked skeptically.

"Yes," the asari replied, as if commenting on the weather, "I receive reports on all newly arrived dignitaries and notable people. You and your sister are, by definition, notable people."

"What is this place exactly?" Emily asked; on their way to find Udina, her Captain had neglected pointing anything out.

"This is the Presidium, more specifically, you are at the Citadel embassies."

"Well that explains all the damn politicians running around…" John muttered, earning a slight scowl from the receptionist before she quickly wiped the look away.

"If you have any more questions, please, access Avina," she finished, her brown eyes belaying her remnant annoyance.

"Who's Avina?" the red head asked, disregarding the receptionist's feelings.

Surprised, she quickly replied, "Oh! Avina is the virtual guide for the Citadel," the receptionist explained happily, "Feel free to access the terminal yourself."

"Thank you… ah?"

"My name is Saphyria, I'm the administrative assistant for the embassies," she offered, surprised that the human Commander wanted to know.

Pausing for a moment Emily looked at the woman and said, "You seem a bit distracted."

This earned a chuckle from the receptionist who explained, "The embassies are the hub of all Citadel politics, when you represent trillions of citizens, you tend to get a little busy."

Emily snorted in agreement and gave the busy blue receptionist a lopsided grin, "Hope you load doesn't get the best of you. See ya later."

"Have a pleasant day," Saphyria replied happily as the Commander turned away.

As the three soldiers moved in behind her, John asked dryly, "And I suppose you're planning to talk to the tour guide now?"

"Think of it as grunt work Johnny."

"I_ hate_ grunt work Emily."

"And I hate _you_ so we're all good," she retorted happily, leaving her brother sigh.

The red head chuckled before absentmindedly running her tongue along the scar on her upper lip, smearing her black lipstick slightly as she approached the flickering hologram that looked like it had walked out of some techie's mag.

"Greetings," it said in a feminine if childlike voice, "My name is Avina, and welcome to the Presidium. I am pleased to be your virtual guide throughout this level of the Citadel space station."

Using her broad arsenal of catchy witticisms and articulacy, Emily replied with a very tasteful, "What?"

"I am a fully interactive virtual intelligence programmed to provide spontaneous guidance at predetermined locations of interest. I may also be contacted by any of the Presidium VI terminals should you require assistance."

Truthfully, Emily was spending most of her attention on the flickering blue woman's body instead of her directions; the led display glimmered with electricity and flowing numbers that seemed to go farther the harder you looked at them, reminding Emily of a vid she had watched once with her brother in basecamp. Thankfully, John noticed her inattention and stored the information in the corner of his mind by practiced habit rather than by predetermined choice.

When the lady switched off, having ended her tour, Emily was brought back to reality. She was about to wave her hand over the motion sensor to start Avian talking again when John led her away.

"Come on Red, you can talk to the creepy robot chick later. We got to get to the Tower. You know, like the _Captain_ wanted?" he reminded her as he pulled her over to the Citadel transit car.

He flicked on the console and typed in "Citadel Tower," before glancing at his squadmates. The Lieutenant blanched but held his composure while the Gunnery looked pretty frustrated about something.

As he pushed his sister into the Transit he asked, "Something wrong Williams?"

"Just can't tell the aliens from the animals sir," she replied.

Snorting, John helped himself in once his sister was set and held the door open for the other two, "Come on people, we're probably late already as it is."

The first thing John noticed at arriving to the Tower, was the sheer amount of stairs there were, Kaidan even commenting on it, the second being that his sister was silent again, but not agitatedly so. He wondered if it had anything to do with the Council or with what had happened on Eden Prime, or if it was relevant at all. Chalking it off as insignificant for the time being the N7 began the ascent to the Council platform only to stop short as he literally walked into a conversation about the rogue Spectre.

"Saren's hiding something! Give me more time! Stall them!" the C-Sec officer pleaded.

The other turian, obviously an ambassador replied calmly, "Stall the council? Don't be ridiculous, your investigation is over Garrus," he replied before walking away, nearly bumping into the red head.

His attention now on the Commanders the turian said, "The Commander Shepards?" he asked before receiving a nod from both siblings, "I am Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

Now_ this_, John thought, was a conversation worth having; "Sounds like you really want to bring him down," he replied taking a more laid back stance.

"I don't trust him," Garrus replied, "Something about him rubs me the wrong way."

"All the more reason to bring him to justice," Emily replied, her hip cocked.

"Saren's a Spectre, everything he touches is classified. I can't find any hard evidence," replied the turian angrily, clearly frustrated to be denied the fruit of his labors.

"I think the council's ready for us Commanders," Kaidan interrupted, looking at the time.

John, catching the warning from his sister, restrained himself from decking the man for interrupting important conversation. Now he'd have to have a talk with the L-T about that too.

For _once_, John thought to himself as the group headed up the stairs, _for once he'd like a day spent without petty conversation._

"Good luck Shepards," the turian called after them, "Maybe the Council will listen to you."

The group made their way around a large fountain, shivered slightly as they were pelted with stray droplets when they strayed too close. They dodged more people, asari, turian, a few salarian and the group was soon given wide berth when rumors of "The Butchers of Torfan" began to spread like wildfire. John ignored them, and if Emily took notice of any of it, she didn't tell him so. She did however, smile when she caught sight of the pink leaved trees growing in the centre displays. He had forgotten his sister was fond of nature, the blue eyed man realized.

When they reached the top of the flight, their Captain was waiting to greet them. The expression on his face was firm and grim, and John found himself wishing he had convinced his sister to arrive sooner.

"Come, the hearing's already started," he stated to the Commanders before heading up the final flight.

A moment before they reached the platform he leant over and whispered, "Remember what we talked about," to the red Commander, who gave a quick nod of understanding, leaving John in the dark.

_What had his Captain told her? Why didn't he know too?_

Unfortunately, he had no time to inquire about it as they were now faced with not only one larger than life representation of Saren but of the three Council members, who were amidst an argument with Ambassador Udina.

"The geth attack is of some concern," the asari councilor stated, "But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way."

"The investigation by Citadel Circuitry found no evidence to support your charge of treason," the turian councilor continued.

Angered, the human ambassador quickly spoke up, "An eyewitness saw Saren kill Nihlus in cold blood!"

"We've read the reports from Eden Prime Ambassador," said the salarian, "But the testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof."

"I resent these accusations," Saren interjected, "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre, and a friend."

"That just let you catch him off guard," the Captain accused, without a trace of fear at the large hologram.

"Captain Anderson," Saren replied, clearly amused, "Somehow you always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me," then, catching sight of the looks he was receiving from the siblings behind the Captain he continued, "And these must be your protégées, the barbaric butchers of Torfan who destroyed the beacon."

Immediately on the defensive Emily growled, "The mission on Eden Prime was top secret, the only way you could have known about the beacon was if you were there!"

"With Nihlus gone, his reports passed on to me. I read the files on Eden prime and I must say _Red_, I'm unimpressed. But what can one expect from a _human_?" he asked.

"Stooping to insults, really?" the red head muttered loud enough for the council to hear.

Unwilling to let the slurs slide, John yelled accusingly, "Saren despises humanity, that's why he attacked Eden Prime!"

"Your species needs to learn its place boy, you're not ready to join the council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres."

"He has no right to say that," Udina piped up, unwilling to let Saren influence the Council's decisions, "That's not _his_ decision," he said angrily, borderline shouting.

Assuming the role of peacekeeper once again, the asari replied, "The admission of the human Shepards into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting."

"This meeting _has_ no purpose," Saren spat, "The humans are wasting your time Councilor's, and mine," he finished.

Emily, desperate to make the Council see things clearly attempted one last time, caught the look her Captain was furtively passing her way and said, "Saren's hiding behind his position as a Spectre! You _need_ to open your eyes," the woman pleaded, her violet eyes filled the look of someone so close to something attainable that they were made dizzy by it.

"What we_ need_ miss," the salarian replied, "is evidence, and so far we have been given none," he finished, making ready to end the meeting.

"There is still one outstanding issue," Anderson added, hoping that their final card would trump Saren's hand, "Commander Emily Shepard's vision," he continued, tossing the red head a nod, "It may have been triggered by the beacon."

"Are we allowing _dreams_ into evidence now Council? How can I defend my innocence against this kind of testimony?" Saren chuckled, still quiet frustrated with the whole affair.

"I agree," decided the turian, "our judgment should be based on facts and evidence, not on wild imaginings and reckless speculation."

The salarian tilted his head before regarding the siblings, "Do you have anything else to add Commanders?"

John was about to reply with some choice words of his own when his sister took a heel to his shin and answered for him, "We understand that you need more proof, and I assure you, you will get it, but until then I _beg_ you not to remain blind to what's occurring around you."

"That is all?" the asari asked, almost amused with the statement, having expected another accusation or something equally as 'barbaric'.

"That's all," Emily replied with a respectful nod.

The asari Councilor looked to the turian on her right who shook his head. Nodding, the asari turned once more to the human gathered beneath her to deliver the verdict, "The Council has found no evidence between Saren and the geth, Ambassador, and your petition to have him disbarred from the specters is denied."

"I'm glad justice was served," said Saren mockingly before his image flickered out.

"This meeting is now adjured," said the asari.

Wordlessly, the Captain turned and descended the stairs. Taking a final look at the Council, John followed him, pausing when he realized Emily wasn't following him. She was paused, staring intently to where Saren had been only seconds before. Her eyes were glassy but focused, as if she intended to simply _will _Saren to the hand of justice.

"Emily," he called weakly, his voice faltering; he held his hand outstretched for her to take as she grew nearer. Then, as she fell in sync beside him, he wrapped the arm around her shoulders as they continued their descent, the Ambassador slowly following suit.

From afar, the asari council member kept her eyes on the retreating humans, the girl in particular.

"A credit for your thoughts?" the turian asked.

"The Commanders certainly weren't as brutish as I'd have thought the Butchers to be."

The turian glanced at the last traces of the pair before they too disappeared silently, his mandibles clicking softly as he found himself deep in thought.

At the base of the stairs Undia cleared his throat before anyone else could speak, and began to speak his mind, firstly by addressing the captain, "It was a mistake brining you to that hearing Anderson, it made the council question our motives," placing the blame of the situation on his shoulders.

Disregarding the ambassador, the Captain turned to his two XO's, eager to dispel any notion that the hearings outcome had affected their mission, "I know Saren. He's working with the geth for one reason: to exterminate the entire human race," he stated, voice firm and dripping with years of giving orders; "every colony we have is at risk. Ever world we control is in danger. Even earth isn't safe," he continued, hoping to appeal to their pasts.

"Tell me about the history between you and Saren," Emily said suddenly, her eyes already calculating.

Turning away and wringing his hands, Anderson sighed, knowing that the woman would not let the matter drop if he refused, reluctantly, he replied, "I worked with Saren a long time ago. Things went bad. Real bad," he added before turning back around, giving the red Commander a knowing glance, "We shouldn't talk about this here. But I know what he's like. And he _has _to be stopped."

Nodding John replied, "We need to stop Saren ourselves," slapping a fist on his palm to emphasize his point. The Chief Gunnery and Lieutenant Alanko also nodded their opinion on the matter.

Udina, his mind already filled with plots and schemes stated, "As a Spectre he's virtually untouchable. We need to find some way to expose him…"

Angrily, Ashley replied, "But I still can't believe the Council ignored the evidence we _did_ have!" Earning several nods.

"Well he is their best operative, it's only natural that they take his word over ours… wait, what about Garrus," Kaidan offered, "that C-Sec investigator, we saw him arguing with the Executor."

"That's right," Williams exclaimed, her hand stressing her words, "he was asking for more time to finish the report, seems like he was close to finding something on Saren."

"Any idea where we can find'im?" asked john.

"I have a contact in C-Sec named Harkin," the Ambassador replied.

"Forget it," Anderson said as he shook his head, "he was suspended last month for drinking on the job. I'm not going to waste my time on that loser."

"You won't have to," replied the ambassador, crossing his arms, "I don't want your past history with Saren to cloud the council's judgment. They'll just toss out anything you say. The butch- I mean, _Shepards_," he corrected at the Captain's glare, "can handle this."

"We'll take care of it," Emily replied, the fire in her eyes dampened.

Glancing at Anderson Udina said, "I need to take care of some things, but meet me in my office later Captain," he ordered before marching off.

Sighing, Anderson turned to the Commander's once more, "Harkin's probably drunk at Chora's den. It's a dingy little club in the lower section of the wards," he offered unhappily, clearly at odds with the idea.

"Maybe there's another person who can help us to stop Saren?" Emily offered.

"Talk to Barla Von over in the financial district, rumor has it that he works for the shadow broker."

"The shadow broker?" Ashley asked.

"An information dealer," the Captain informed her, "buys and sells secrets. Barla Von's one of his top agents," then turning to john, "He might know something about Saren, but it won't come cheap. Good luck, I'll probably be over in the Ambassador's office if you need anything," he added before nodding his respects. The four soldiers offered firm salutes as the Captain took his leave.

"Welp, now we get to run around chasing leads while that smug jackass runs around with his geth troops…"said the Chief Gunnery bitterly, earning a snort from the blue Commander.

As the four made to take their leave as well, the Chief Gunnery spotted suspicious behavior coming from a salarian and quickly pointed it out.

"That guy's up to something," she whispered, Emily and John instantly battle ready, but their weapons undrawn.

They made their way closer as the shady salarian quickly took a few steps back from the green creature he had been scanning; he offered a brief wave, in display of harmlessness.

"Um, yes, is there something I can do for you?" he asked, his words quick.

"Why are you so interested in those creatures?" Emily asked, voice oozing authority.

"The keepers? I've no interest in the keep-"

"Don't get coy," Ashley interrupted, causing the salarian to squirm, I know what I saw.

"Alight, alight," he responded quickly, "I'm using a small scanner to gather readings about them."

"Why?" asked Emily.

"Well, I'm a scientist… and we know so little about them yet they run the Citadel. I just want to learn more about them."

"Why be so sneaky about it?"

"Well ma'am, nobody's allowed to interfere with the keepers. I don't think my scanning does that, but it's not worth getting arrested over for."

"We can help you," said the red head, "we're not worried about the authorities. I and my brother are Commanders of the Alliance military."

"Well then," the salraian responded, "I guess I'm happy for the help. Here," he said, offering the red head his scanner, "This is what I used to get the readings. I can offer you a small sum for any unique scans. The data you gather will upload to my database."

Feeling John's poke to her upper back despite her armor Emily replied, "Welp, Got to get going now."

"Yes," the salrian replied, "I have much work to be doing myself, good luck with the scanning then," he finished before giving a little wave and walking off.

"Happy?" John snapped as Emily turned around, fiddling with the small scanner before finding a way to hook it up to her omnitool.

"Mmmhhhm," she replied without glancing at him, "Now let's get to that bar," she instructed, lifting her head up and trodding over to the nearest transit station.

"Bar?" John asked in disbelief, "We're supposed to be on the mission!"

"We are on mission Johnny," Emily tsked as she pressed the terminal's holo keys, "Our mission is to gather proof by talking to the drunkard, and the drunkard is at the bar," the red Commander explained, "Ergo, we go to the bar," she finished as the car started up before piling in.

Shrugging, Ashley followed after her as John sighed, also getting in.

"But Commander ma'am," Kaidan choked, "The Captain wanted us to talk to the broker agent."

"Well L-T, in that case, _you_ can pay for the drinks when we reach the bar. Now, since you're still out there, change our course for the financial district. I'd hurry it up though, these cars don't wait forever," said Emily, her eyes glimmering with mischief at the thought of the Lieutenant getting left behind.

Sighing, the man resigned himself to his fate and prodded the terminal a few times before barley managing to dive into the backseat before the car took off. He settled himself in beside the blue Commander, and prayed that if he kept his mouth shut then the man beside him wouldn't shut it for him as the red head's infectious laughter filled the air.

"Ma'am, Sir," Ashley stated after a few minutes, breaking the mood.

"Williams?" Emily responded, now curious at the brunette's discomfort.

"The Captain said that the agent's information would be expensive. Is that… something we need to worry about?"

Emily cocked her head in though before looking at her brother, whose expression mirrored her own. Then, her trademark grin returning, Emily replied, "Don't worry Ash, if we don't have enough creds, I'll just offer a little incentive…"

"You certainly will not," John barked.

"Would you rather me shoot him and end up in the slammer again?" she asked, her voice dry and without its former warmth.

Sighing John shook his head before replying, "Can't we let Williams do it? Or perhaps the L-T? He seems to be fond of kissing ass."

Ignoring the barb Kaidan replied, "There's little point in worrying about it until we know what we're up against… Sir, Ma'am," he added.

Ashley, suddenly worried about how much 'incentive' she might be required to provide and to whom, decided to neglect further questions to maintain her own self interests.

Barla Von's office, they found, was very plain and carried an aura of power. As they pushed past the doors Emily took the lead in a long, confident stride that spoke of the years she had spent being in charge.

"What's this?" the volus behind the counter asked between breaths, "one of the Earth clan?" he asked as Emily made it to the desk, quickly flanked by the others. At seeing the blue eyed man stake his place beside the red head, the situation became clear to him; "You are the ones they call the Shepard siblings, yes? The famous ones?" he asked even as he confirmed their identities, "It is a great honor to meet you both though I must say that the tales do not do either of you justice."

"You've got us at a bit of a disadvantage," Emily replied batting her lashes as she popped the volus her lopsided grin.

"Forgive me Earth clan," he replied swiftly, "I am Barla Von. My job makes it necessary for me to keep in formed," then clarifying, he continued, "I am a financial advisor to many important clients on the Citadel, so when someone important such as you or your brother," he gestured with a hand, "sets foot here, I take notice."

Glancing at her brother, and receiving the go ahead, Emily asked, "I heard you work for the Shadow Broker, got anything on Saren?"

"You're very blunt miss Shepard," the agent replied, "But you're also very correct. I am both an agent and I do know something about Saren."

"How much is that information going to cost me?" Emily inquired further, her arms folding over her chest.

"Normally miss Shepard," said Barla, "This information would cost a small fortune. But circumstances being what they are, I'm going to give it to you for free…"

"What's the catch," asked the Gunnery, crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

"There is no catch," he clarified, and the chief's eyes widened in disbelief, "The shadow Broker is very displeased with Saren, they used to do a lot of business… and then Saren turned on him."

"He seems to be turning on a lot of people lately," John added cynically.

"I don't know the details," he began, looking at the red head earnestly through his suit, "but the Shadow Broker hired a freelancer mercenary to deal with him, a krogan male."

"How do we find him?" asked John.

"I heard he was paying Citadel Security a visit, if you hurry, you can probably catch him before he leaves the Academy."

Nodding John replied, "Thanks for the info," before turning around to leave.

As they exited Emily let out groan that caught her brother's attention.

"What is it Red?"

"I wanted to go to the Den which is right next to the Academy to begin with… Now we have to backtrack the whole way…" she moaned, grabbing her brother's arm and pressing her face into his shoulder, "_Fuuuck_."

Snickering, John continued making his way over back to the nearest Citadel Transit station.

Now, out of all the species, the most recognizable were the hanar, but krogans came in a close second. They were big, hudge, big, and deadly. All Alliance marines learned day one in basic training that if you wanted to stay alive, you didn't fuck around with anything starting with 'kro' and you ran the fuck away from anything ending in 'gan'. That lesson though was pushed very far from both of the Commander's minds as they reached their intended target. He was big, scarred, and wearing armor the color of blood.

Emily liked him immediately.

He was talking to a small group composed of human males, and the krogan didn't seem to be too interested in what they had to say.

"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar, and I'm warning you to stay away from him," said an officer wearing the C-Sec uniform.

The large brute grinned and poked the man hard in the chest saying, "I don't take orders from you."

"This is you only warning Wrex," the officer continued.

"You should warn Fist," he replied, inching closer and making the officer squirm, "I'm going to kill him."

"You _want_ me to arrest you?"

"I want you to _try,_" the krogan replied, daring the officer.

John immediately decided that this was going to be his most favorite person, right after his sister.

Catching site of the Commanders the krogan smirked at the man before walking towards them. John took to his normal cocky stance, complete with folded arms, and Emily couldn't help but crack her best lopsided smile.

"Yes humans?" he asked warily, clearly not in the mood for anything non-lethally related.

"We're going to bring down Saren. Barla Von said we should talk to you about it," Emily stated.

"Barla Von is a wise man. We may have a common goal… If your words are more then that, words."

"Enlighten us," stated John, as Emily crossed her arms.

"I've been hired to kill the owner of Chora's Den, a man named Fist," he began, walking closer to the pair. Scenting the dominance radiating from both siblings he closed in on the female Commander, testing their reactions as he continued, "He did something very foolish," he emphasized with a nod.

"Let me guess," John began before Emily finished, "he betrayed the Shadow Broker."

Sensing no fear nor anger from either Shepards, the krogan took a single step back to remove himself from the human female's breathing space and continued, "A quarian showed up here on the Citadel, she was on the run, looking for a place to hide. She wanted to trade information for her safety so she went to Fist," he explained, "Fist promised to arrange a meeting between her and the Shadow Broker, but instead he contacted Saren."

"Fist's not too smart is he?" John asked, smirking.

Wrex grunted in way of chuckling his agreement before continuing, "He's greedy. Saren paid him a small fortune for the quarian. He had to, she has evidence connecting him to the geth."

Kaidan, unable to contain his excitement exclaimed, "If we get our hands on that evidence, we can prove that Saren's a traitor! The council will _have _to listen to us."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Ashley replied, rolling her eyes.

The Lieutenant blanched and returned to refraining from speech.

Ignoring them, Emily asked the krogan, "Where is the quarian now?"

"Last I heard," he began, "Fist still had her. She's probably somewhere inside his club. You help me kill Fist and she's all yours," he offered.

Grinning ear to ear Emily shook the krogan's hand in the universal sign of sealing the deal as John replied, "I do believe that it's time to pay 'ol Fisty a visit..."

"What about Garrus? That turian?" Williams asked after the shake was ended, "He wanted to help take down Saren too."

Agreeing with the Chief Gunnery Emily replied with a nod, "He might come in handy."

"He was here just before you showed up," Wrex offered casually, "Said he was going to follow up on a lead in his investigation. Went to speak with a doctor at the med clinic."

Knowing that time was now of the essence Emily nodded and barked a swift, "Move out!"

Seeing the krogan refraining from joining them, John paused and asked, "You com'in or what?"

The large warrior looked at the team and shrugged before walking past the Lieutenant and the Gunnery. Krogans _never_ stood behind the weakest links. The blue Commander shot the new addition a grin before jogging to catch up with his counterpart. _This_ was going to be _fun,_ he thought_._

How his sister managed to lead them to the clinic without getting them all lost remained a mystery to the blue Commander, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. What he was going to complain about however, was the way everything was lighted in the Citadel, areas were either so well lit that everything glared across his visor or else was so sparsely lit that he almost thought he was in the back alleys he and Red had crawled out of all those years ago. If was amazing how the little things could bring back even the most forgotten dredges of what one tried to bury. He wondered if this was what his sister went through every time someone mentioned their time on Torfan. He mentally added another thing to the list-of-things-to-talk-to-Emily-about, and that list was getting pretty long, he mused.

When they reached the doors of the med clinic Emily paused and reached for her pistol as she threw a glance at her brother. He immediately drew his rifle, prompting similar actions from the rest of the group. As the metal doors slid open the sounds of a battle reached their ears and the squad instantly dropped to their knees as adrenalin started flowing.

"I didn't tell anyone I swear!" a feminine voice thick with accent cried from behind the wall in front of them. She was talking to a small group of men, and by the look of her appearance the Commanders knew she was the doctor that they had been discussing earlier. Along the bottom of that same wall was a turian who upon a single closer look told Emily and John that it was Garrus.

"That was smart, Doc," said one of the men closest to her; _the leader_, Emily silently shot her brother who nodded, _we can't startle them and we don't have time to see what Garrus is going to do_, John told her by the set of his eyes, the drawl of his lips, and the tug of his shoulders, Emily nodded,_ I'll go 'round the other side and take his attention. Be ready to take the shot._

_Got it Red, _John nodded once, flicking his index finger and thumb forward.

Unknowing of the soldiers circling around them, the group continued their discussion with the doctor, "Now if Garrus comes around," the first man continued, "You'll stay smart and keep your mouth shut or we'll-"

He paused when he caught sight of the black and red armored red head with her pistol aiming dead set between his eyes; immediately he shouted "Who the fuck are you?" even as he pulled the woman in front of him as both a hostage and a meat shield.

Keeping the man's attention she responded by ordering him to let the doctor go. The second the last word left her lips, Garrus shot the thug and he fell limp to the ground, gasping in agony. Immediately, the turian strove forward, drawing the rest of the group's attention temporarily away from Emily, and as John sniped the man closest to her, Ashley, Kaidan and Wrex instantaneously took their marks and fired while the red commander tossed an offhanded barrier around the doctor, keeping her from literally getting shot in the crossfire before sending a wave of biotics into the men, knocking them to their feet, leaving them as easy targets.

Wrex and, Ashley, and Garrus each fired, taking advantage of the chance while John ran forward to stand by the turian, opening himself to enemy fire as he aimed for the men taking cover behind the large storage crates. The thugs, knowing that they were both surrounded, outgunned, and doomed, began firing in a frenzy in a last ditch effort to keep their lives and Commanders' team sans the krogan hastily took cover to better take them out with minimal risk.

Emily, ducked behind a corner, felt her barrier around the doctor faltering and the violet eyed woman took stock of the situation as time seemed to slow to a grinding halt. _One. Two. Three._ Four seconds, was all she had in-between the collective shots to reach the doctor and strengthen her barrier. Pulling one of her more favored maneuvers, a rolling somersault that left her crouched on her heels in the perfect position in front of the doctor to both strengthen her hold on the woman's shield and to take aim at the thugs before time surged forward again. As Emily took her shot Kaidan pushed the bullet forward with a wave of bitotics, the impact of the force killing not only Emily's target instantly, but knocking the two men beside him down as well with the equally effective whiplash. John and Ashley finished off the men on the floor while Garrus and Wrex took the final two that had remarkably remained standing throughout the entire ordeal.

A tense moment of silence filed the air as everyone waited for any more signs of hostility; John out of them all, waited the longest before he too put his weapon away before giving a nod to his sister and then signaled Williams and Kaidan to check that the men were in fact very, very dead as he took his place beside the krogan mercenary and the turian who were waiting for Emily's strengthened hold over the doctor to wear off.

"You got perfect timing Ms. Sheppard," the turian began, pointing at the red head as she struggled to turn her biotics off, "Gave me a clear shot at the bastard."

"Yes, well," Emily began, smiling when the barrier fell, "That _was_ the intention."

The doctor, finding herself both free and unharmed looked briefly around at the group, trying to decide if she was any safer than before. Catching her unease the C-Sec officer asked, "Are you alright Dr. Mitchell? Are you hurt?"

Shaking her head she replied, "No, I'm okay. Fine, all thanks to you," she replied, her words still dripping French, "All of you," she corrected with a small gesture."

"Why were those men threatening you?" John asked as Kaidan and the Gunnery took their places behind him.

"Do you know who they worked for?" Emily added, her voice softer then her brother's but just as firm.

"They worked for Fist," she replied as she began to wring her hands, either in shame or fear neither the red head or her brother could tell; "they wanted to shut me up… Keep me quite about the quarian."

"That's the one I told you about," Wrex commented, nodding at the Commanders.

"She must be able to link Saren to the geth," Garrus continued, thinking aloud to himself, "There's no way the Council can ignore this."

Nodding John glanced at his sister, _time to pay Fist a visit?_

Emily blinked back, _one thing more Johnny,_ before turning her gaze on the doctor.

"Are you going to be all right here Doctor? Is there somewhere you can lay low until we take care of Fist for good?"

"I," the doctor began thinking, her hands pausing their motion, "Yes," she added, nodded, "Yes, I shall be fine, but please, hurry after Fist and the quarian."

Nodding Emily looked at her brother who turned to the turian.

Garrus straightened himself and his mandibles whirred briefly before he said, "This is your show Commanders, I want Saren as badly as you two do. I'm coming with you."

John smirked and glanced back at his sister; "What do you think sis? Should we keep him?"

"Well the Captain always said," Emily sing-songed in reply, her hands and shoulders shrugging, "if it follows us home…"

Chuckling John turned back to the turian, "Welcome aboard then Garrus," he replied with a nod, crossing his arms.

Garrus relaxed his stance and dived in, "Fist will be waiting for us, when we hit him, we better hit him hard."

Taking a quick headcount, John grinned and replied, "Somehow I think we'll be just fine blue-britches."

The turian appeared to raise a brow at the term, but either paid it no mind or chalked it up as a "human thing."

"Alright then Johnny, let's get going," Emily ordered, pointing the way with her pistol.

Nodding in agreement the team left the med clinic Doctor to her own devices and marched their way to Chora's Den weapons at the ready with the Commander's taking lead. Ashley followed behind, flanked by Kaiden and Wrex behind them while the C-Sec covered the rear. As they reached the hallway leading to the Den they found it devoid of inhabitants.

"Huh," was Kaidan's only contribution.

"Looks like the place is shut down…" the turian offered, earning a nod from the L-T.

"Fist knows we're coming," Wrex explained as he watched the Commanders communicate silently with each other before the blue Sheppard took the lead, the red one glancing back at them and mouthing _"As soon as those doors open up cover our six"._

The bartender fired first, and at the Commander's twin shots, one to each of his shoulders, he fell to the ground howling in pain. The N7's raced forward as they shot at the mercs, allowing the others to file out behind them, the Commanders and Ash going right, Garrus, Kaidan and Wrex taking the left. The sound of shots ricocheting in the small bar left most of the teams ears in agony, though they were too busy shooting thugs to notice. One thug in particular was giving the group a hard time, having positioned himself on the top of the bar, using the vantage point to snipe pot shots at them; he was ignored until the last of the other thugs in the room went down until he fired a shot that was aimed for Emily's unprotected head.

The red head found herself being pushed as she heard the shot being fired, her teeth catching her tongue as her jaw -like the rest of her body- hit the floor. Coughing out the salty copper tasting liquid now filling her mouth she propped herself on her knees and spun her head in time to see Garrus standing in front of her, gun poised and firing as John hit the man with a blast of his biotics. Shakily getting to her feet Emily spat another gob of blood to the floor and ran a finger over her injured appendage, relieved to find she hadn't bitten deep.

After another wiping the blood from her face onto her arm she nodded at the turian who nodded back before jogging around the bar to where the man had fallen. John was standing over him, his fist bioticly charged as he pounded into the man's skull, again. Again. _And again_.

"Commander Sir," Williams spoke up, "I'm pretty sure he's not going anywhere anytime soon…"

Growling, John gave the dead man one final shot before nodding at the Gunnery, wiping his hand against the mesh of his suit. Then, catching sight of Emily and her bleeding face he snarled before shaking her by the shoulders.

"_For the love of_ god!" he hissed through clenched teeth, "_Wear a goddamned _helmet!"

Emily pushed her brother off and replied with an anger filled grin, "The _fuck _would I do _that_ for Johnny? 'At takes all the fun out of it," she jeered through her bloody mouth.

Wrex grunted in amusement before saying, "Certainly has a lot of fire in her, I'll give her that," said approving as Emily spat once more.

Johnny sighed, recognizing the losing battle and looked at the krogan before asking, "Any of these losers Fist?"

"No," the krogan replied, readying his gun again, "He's probably holed up in the back," he said, pointing at the hallway to their left with the pistol.

"To the back we go then," John replied, his weapon drawn again.

They headed into the tiny room and took out the two men guarding it with ease before the blue Commander began fiddling with the door. When it opened there were two more men behind it, both very twitchy; Emily lowered her gun and nodded at her brother, tacking on a tilt of her hips, _don't shoot them. They're civies_. John blinked in her direcetion before glancing back at the men, his rifle still aimed.

"Stop, don't come any closer," ordered the warehouse worker, his voice shaken.

"Warehouse workers?" Garrus replied surprised, "All the real guards must be dead."

"Stay back or we'll shoot," replied the first man's companion, his gun tilted in the vid popular "kill shot" position.

"We just killed fifty other guards back there," John began, "What do you think we'll do to _you_?"

Lessening the blow, Emily continued, "I'd suggesting getting out of here before he gets angry," she offered, jerking a thumb behind her.

Taken aback the two men looked at each other and then nodded, gulping down their fear as the Commanders' team stepped aside to let them pass.

"It would have been quicker just to kill them," Wrex commented.

"Ah, but then my dear Wrex," Emily sang, small blood droplets landing on the floor, "we wouldn't have been able to watch them piss themselves."

John snorted and continued moving forward before taking a jibe at the red head, "You know Sis, for someone with a bloodied tongue you still talk too much."

"You're just jealous that I'm more badass than you," she retorted, earning a snicker from the L-T.

Upon hearing their voices then man in the next room started shooting, shouting, "Why do I have to do everything myself?"

Emily took it upon herself to answer then man with a shot of her own and soon the team open fired on the defense turrets to either side of him. Emily shot one of Fist's knees out and he fell to the floor, dropping his gun to the ground as the turrets were taken care of. As each team member aimed their guns at the ready, the man flailed one of his blood soaked hands.

"Wait," he cried, "I surrender, please don't kill me!"

The Commander's nodded at Garrus and Ashley and they both moved forward in tandem, each holding their gun to the opposite side of his head before Emily strode forward with John, who was smiling rather cruelly. The red head knelt down in front of the man, drying blood trickling from the corners of her mouth as she asked quietly, "Where is the quarian Fist?"

"She's not here," he began, skirting his glance, his blue eyes shifting from the red head to his knees, "And that's the truth," he added hastily, "I don't know where she is."

"He's of no use to you now," Wrex stated calmly, "Let me kill him."

"Wait wait!" he cried, shielding his head with hand, "I don't know where the quarian is but I know where you can find her! The quarian isn't here, she said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."

"Face to face?" Wrex asked belligerently, "Impossible. Even I was hired through an agent."

Looking from the krogan back to Emily he evened his voice and replied, "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker, ever. Even I don't know his true identity. But she doesn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up. But when she shows? It'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Emily rose from her knees slowly and looked at her brother before gesturing towards fist with her hand, her tongue having started to swell past the point of her ability to talk with it comfortably.

John stepped forward, grin disappearing as he hoisted the man against the wall with one bioticly charged fist, his gun pressed firmly into the man's throat.

"Give us the location," he ordered, with all the warmth of a rabid dog, "_Now_."

"The ward," Fist choked out, "Back alley in the Markets," he continued, the gun pressing into his windpipe, "You can hurry if you make it," he squelched as his air was cut off.

John dropped him to the ground and walked over to the man's desk, swiping the unused napkin from beside the lunch the club owner had been eating. He also spotted a data stick and tucked it absentmindedly into his pocket. He walked over to Emily proceeded to tidy her face up as Fist's thanks spewed forth from his lips.

Patting the sides of his sister's mouth gently John replied, "I never said you weren't going to die."

With that the krogan fired a single headshot that wiped Fist out of their lives for good.

"What was that for?" asked Garrus, "He surrendered."

"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him and I get my jobs done. The red one agreed that I could kill him in exchange for the quarian," he explained, nodding towards Emily who had gotten fed up with her brother's fussing and pushed him away with a scowl. Ignoring her protests he held her mouth open and slathered a layer of medi gel across his sister's tongue, causing her to pull away dry wretch at the horrid taste it left. After a few moments she stood up and offered thumbs up to the group and grinned lopsidedly.

"To the quarian!" John shouted, raising his gun in the air before securing it in front of him. Knowing that they only had minutes if not seconds to spare, the group ran at top speed through the halls and along the stairs, pushing people out of their way as often as they were dodging them until they reached the back alley, light only in red.

There were four at first headcount, one being the quarian they were after. The turian walked slowly up to her, asking, "Did you bring it?"

Though she was standing in a more timid stance, the masked girl replied with fire in her words, surprising the Commanders, "Where's the Shadow Broker, where's Fist?"

"They'll be here," the turian replied, running his claws over the quarian's helmet, "Where's the evidence?" he asked, sliding his hand down to the girl's hip.

She slapped him away and replied firmly, "No way. The deal's off."

Angry now, the turian backed away from the girl and nodded to his henchmen, who appeared to be salarian's in full hardsuits, though Emily wasn't sure, the only 'aliens' she was really knowledgeable on being the bartarians. Rather than let them do what they were ordered however, she and her brother fired at them, revealing their presence in doing so.

The quarian ducked behind and old storage container left conveniently in the alley to cover herself while firing, and the Commander's team quickly took the full focus of the turian and his two goons. Being extremely outnumbered however, the fight was over before it had a chance to really begin.

As the Sheppard siblings descended the stairs to close the space between them and the quarian she stood and took stock of the dead while Emily scanned the keeper in the corner.

"Fist set me up," she cried indignantly, "I knew I couldn't trust him!"

As the red head finished with the scan she called over her shoulder, "Were you hurt in the fight at all?"

The quarian shook her head, her face almost completely obscured by her helmet as she replied, "I know how to look af'ter myself. Not zat I don't appreciate the help," she continued as the red head trodded over to stand beside her brother.

"Who are you?" the quarian asked, as if she didn't quite believe the people standing in front of her were real.

"You're new best friends," John replied, putting his weapon away, signaling the others to do the same.

"I'm Commander Emily Sheppard," the red head began, "And this," she continued, cocking her head at her sibling, "Is my brother, also Commander Shepard. Lieutenant Alanko and Chief Gunnery Williams," she continued with a thumb jerk to each, "serve the Alliance military on our crew. That" she added nodding to the turrian officer, "Is Garrus, he works in C-Sec," then nodding to the krogan, "Is Wrex. For the moment he's on our side."

A little taken aback the quarian found herself speechless.

Continuing from where his sister left off John continued, "We're gathering evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."

"Then I have a chance to repay for saving my life," the girl replied, "But nought here. We need to go somewhere safe."

"We could take her to the human embassy," Garrus offered, "Your ambassador will want to see this anyway."

"Good idea blue-britches," John replied grinning, "What do you say Sis? Shall we escort this fine upstanding young lady to the embassy?"

"Oh yes," Emily replied smirking, "Let's," she agreed then, turning to Wrex and Kaidan she said, "You two cover the rear, you never know when any wackos might try to retaliate."

"Speaking of which," the quarian replied, "My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Glad to have you with us Tali," Emily replied, offering the helmeted girl in the enviro suit a smile before heading back up the stairs.

When they reached the Transit cars, they realized that one car would not fit them all.

"I'll stay behind if needed," offered the Gunnery.

"No one's getting left behind Ash," Emily replied with a sigh, calling up a second car.

"Garrus, Williams, Lieutenant," John began "you three are in the first car with me. Emily and Wrex will follow with Miss Tali here," he ordered, earning nods from the group.

As they piled into their respective vehicles Kaidan couldn't help but reply, "Commander Sir?"

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Is it safe to leave them with the krogan?"

"It's the best weight distribution I could come up with L-T."

Sighing he replied, "That's… not quite what I meant Sir."

"I know quite well what you meant Alanko," John stated gravely, "And if you doubt Wrex's loyalty you can ask him about it when we reach the Embassy. If you have a question with my orders you can ask me right now, though I warn you I have a nasty left hook."

"Yes Sir," the L-T replied, sighing before leaning back in his seat. He wondered to himself if the male Commander would _ever_ forgive him, not that he would ever _deserve_ it, he thought.

When the Shepard siblings walked into the Ambassador's office Udina was facing the view, his backs turned to them, and the second the door shut behind the large group Udina began talking.

"You're not making my life any easier you two," he scolded, "Firefights in the wards? An all-out full assault on Chora's Den?" he continued, anger rising and turning around, "Do you have any idea-" he paused when he took stock of the three new faces in the sibling's party; "Who's this?" he asked, gesturing to Tali, "a quarian? a turian? And a… A krogan?" gesturing to each in disbelief, "What are you two up to Shepards?"

"Making your day Ambassador," Emily replied happily, "That _quarian,"_ Emily continued, mocking Udina's use of the word, "has information linking Saren to the geth."

"Really?" he asked, resigning himself to what he felt was a lost cause, "perhaps you had better start at the beginning miss…?"

"My name is Tali. Tali' Zorah nar Rayya" she replied proudly.

"We don't see many quarians here. Why were you leave the flotilla?" asked the Ambassador, wary of the girl being shady.

"I was on my pilgrimage," she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "My rite of passage into adulthood."

"Perhaps you could explain to the clueless human what that means?" Emily asked happily, her lopsided grin in place as her curiosity got the better of her.

"It is a tradition among my people Ms Shepard," she began, tipping her head in a quarian nod, "When we reach maturity we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Alone we search the stars," she continued, "Only returning to the flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood," she finished kindly, surprised that the Commander would wish to know about her culture.

"What kinds of things do you look for?" she asked.

"Well, it could be resources like food or some useful type of technology. Or even knowledge," she continued, brightening, "Anything that can make like for the flotilla easier. Through our pilgrimage we prove that we will contribute to our society rather than being a burden on our limited resources."

When the violet eyed Commander nodded Tali continued, "When I was traveling I began hearing reports of the geth. Since the geth drove my people into exile, they have never traveled beyond the veil, I grew curious. I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world, and waited for one of the patrol to become separated from the others. I then disabled it and removed its memory core."

"I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they were deactivated," the Captain replied skeptically, "As some kind of defense mechanism."

"How did you manage to preserve the core?" John asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

"My people _created_ the geth," she replied, "If you're quick, careful and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved. Most of the core was wiped clean, _but_, I salvaged something from its audio banks," she explained as she turned on her omnitool and began to play the file.

From the girl's omnitool came the voice of Saren, and immediately, the lingering doubt from the Captain and the Ambassador was gone.

"_Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

"That's Saren's voice…" Anderson confirmed with a nod, "This proves he was involved with the attack."

"Captain Sir," said the red headed commander.

"Yes Shepard?"

"What's a Conduit Sir?"

"It must have something to do with the beacon Commander," he replied, "Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology… like a weapon," he ventured.

"Wait," Tail exclaimed, before the humans could get too ahead of themselves, "There's more," she revealed, "Saren's not working alone;" she tapped away at her omnitool again to bring up the audio reading again.

"_Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit," _said the ghost of Saren once more.

"_And one step closer to the return of the Reapers," _came a feminine reply.

"I don't recognize the other voice," replied the Ambassador, "The one talking about the Reapers."

"Reapers?" whispered Emily; she raced through the different things she had learned in her life, trying to place where she had heard the term before.

"Alright," John interrupted, "I'll bite. What's a Reaper?"

"According to the memory core," Tali began, "the Reapers were a hyper advanced machine race that existed over 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Prothean into total extinction and then they vanished, or at least, that is what the geth believe…"

At the quarian's description, Emily felt her blood start to freeze and her head start to pound. Her eyes clouded over red tainted images began flashing across her mind faster than she could process them. The images quickly took over her other senses and pain rippled though her nerves like wildfire, forcing the N7 to her knees as the images grew worse; immediately her brother was kneeling beside her, shouting her name while the Captain raced forward.

"What the blazes is going on?" cried the Ambassador.

"Skipper!" cried the Gunnery, she and the rest of the group stepping back to give the woman and her brother space. Tali remained fearfully silent and pressed herself to the wall behind her, afraid she would be blamed for the red headed woman's pain, not at all sure what was going on.

The sounds grew louder, the pain increased; she was unable to tell her reality from her vision, her biotics rippling across her skin; at some point she started screaming, and just when the woman became completely overwhelmed it all just… _stopped_.

Emily fell to the floor for the second time that day, panting, exhausted.

"Emily, are you ok?" John asked, immediately picking his sister up to her feet.

"What happened Commander? What did you see?" Asked the Captain.

Breathlessly, she said between gasps as her brother pulled her tightly to his chest, "Reapers… they were _Reapers…_"

"What is she blathering on about?" Undia asked venomously.

"The vision she had on Eden Prime," he threw at the white coated man, before looking back at the red head, "Those things you saw were Reapers?"

Emily nodded, her throat too choked to speak her affirmation. She swallowed another precious gulp of air and managed to reply, "T-the hands… The red… Reapers, they destroyed _everything_… Killed _everyone_…" she shuddered, "I watched them die… I _felt_ them die…" she explained, and then in a tense whisper, "_I died along with them…"_

"Are you absolutely sure Commander?" asked the Captain, _needing_ to know.

Emily paused for a few minutes, just breathing as her head rested against her brother's neck before gasping slightly and pulling away from him. She shook slightly, as she turned to face the Captain, but her eyes were filled with every bit of cold steel and determination that they had been when she had been stationed on Torfan.

With every fiber of her being, she said, "I'm not sure Captain. I_ know_. The vision I had both now and on Eden Prime were the Prothean being wiped out by the Reapers."

"It seems a bit too farfetched to me," replied the Ambassador, "As you were just having some kind of fit I'm rather inclined to doubt anything you say on the matter, I can't imagine what the Council would make of it" he said, eyeing the woman as if she'd go mad and start doing something equally disturbing as she had done moments before.

Hoping to settle the tension growing in the room and to live up to her promise of repayment, the quarian stepped forward again, making no comment of the red Shepard's previous distress, "The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non organic life. And they believe that Saren knows how to bring them back."

"This is a lot to handle," replied Lieutenant Alanko, "they might just ignore everything we tell them."

"People _do _only listen to what they want to hear," the Chief Gunnery agreed.

"We still have to tell them everything," Emily replied.

"No matter what they think of the _rest_ of it," Anderson commanded, "The audio file still _proves_ that Saren is a traitor;" tossing a look at the Ambassador as he finished.

"The Captain is right," Udina relented, "The Council will have to be notified of this straight away."

"What about her?" asked Wrex, speaking for the first time, "The quarian?"

"My _name_," she snapped at him, "Is _Tali_."

He grunted at her and remained silent, causing the girl to scoff and cross her arms.

"Come with us," said Emily.

"Ms. Commander?" she replied, unsure if she had heard the woman correctly or not.

"You held your own well enough back in that alley _and_ you followed a geth patrol _single_handedly _and_ retrieved information linking Saren to the geth," the red head explained, "I want you on our team Tali."

The quarian lit up, her stance brightening, though her expression was still unreadable through her helmet, "I would _love_ to Commander, and I _promise_ to be of as much use as I can," she declared.

"Red, we've talked about this…" John sighed, rubbing his temple.

"If she follows me home I can keep her," Emily replied, grinning as she turned her gaze to the Captain, "Can we keep her Sir? Pretty please?"

The Captain stood silent, looking the quarian over before asking, "What about your pilgrimage?"

"The pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves to the greater good," she replied, "What does it say about me if I turn my back on _this_?" she asked rhetorically, "Saren is a danger to us _all_, especially if what Commander Emily said was true. I can help defend the galaxy Captain, my pilgrimage can wait."

"Well then," he replied, clearly impressed with the girl, "We can take all the help we can get. Request permitted Commander, she's all yours."

"Thank you Sir," replied both the red head and the quarian, causing John to hold back a snicker, and the Gunnery to bite back a moan.

Taking the spotlight back for himself the Ambassador said, "The Captain and I will go ahead and get things ready with the council, take a few minutes to collect yourselves and then meet us at the Tower," he ordered, "And for the love of god," he directed at Emily, "_Don't_ mention anymore of your _visions_," he finished, using finger quotes on the last word before stomping off.

"Are you going to be alright," Anderson asked the red head, time finally allowing room for concern.

"I'm fine Sir, I think Tali just triggered my head to piece together what it already knew," she replied evenly, the years of war and living on the streets having strengthened her ability to cope.

Nodding the man briskly followed the Ambassador, leaving the new team to themselves.

"So who's paying our transit fare?" John asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"I vote Kaidan," the Gunnery replied, earring a playful punch to the shoulder from the L-T.

* * *

><p><strong>Ok, so forgive me for cutting it off there, but his chapter is long enough. I'll have the next chapter pick up pretty much right where we've left off though so don't worry.<strong>

**So John and Emily are capable of disagreeing, that's good to know... we also see that John isn't speciest so much as just generally not caring of anyone, Udina is a dick, and Saren is a douche. Forgive my "french."**

**Also, i have no knowledge on what medi gel tastes like, but im all for the "if it's good for you, it tastes horrible" angle. **

**also, i know i mention torfan a lot but that's intentional. if the y really WERE "the butchers" it would logically be an aspect of their lives that would follow them everywhere.**

**faves are really nice, but dont be afraid to comment once in awhile. **

**I dont bite.**

**I promise.**

**Happy reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**So here we are, the last of the Citadel, for the most part anyway. **

**the Shepard sibling's become Spectres and split up! The horror! **

* * *

><p><strong>Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower<strong>

* * *

><p>After tumbling out of one very cramped elevator that certainly be occupying the Shepard siblings' nightmares from now, the group proceeded en mass up the several flights of stairs.<p>

"God these steps… _again_," Emily groaned dramatically, lugging herself up with the help of the railing.

"You'd think it was symbolic of the Council's importance or something," the L-T jested sarcastically in reply.

Snorting the red head straightened up and retorted, "Yes, the Council has used this architectural structure as a tactical advantage," she declared, her eyes filling with mischief, "They figured the harder they were to get too, the less people like us would bash their bullshit."

"Obviously they underestimated your tenacities Commanders," replied the turian C-Sec officer.

"Damn straight blue britches!" Emily replied with a toss of her head and a lopsided grin.

"You keep using that term," Garrus replied, "I do not understand what you mean by it."

"Simple," John replied, slapping an armored hand on the turian's shoulder plating, "it's slang from the city streets," he explained, jogging passed him to catch up with his sister, "Any cop from Earth was a blue-britch to the Reds. Luckily for you we don't pop'n cap'em anymore."

"Yes, I find that very reassuring, thank you," Garrus replied dryly, rolling his eyes.

As they reached the second to final flight they found the Captain awaiting them once more, his face grim but not as strained as it was last time. _Things must have been going their way_, the raggtaggled team thought.

"Come on," the Captain gestured, "Ambassador Udina is presenting the quarian's evidence to the Council."

"_Tali_," both the N7's and the quarian mumbled instantly, causing Anderson to raise a brow before urging them up the stairs once more.

As they ascended the recording of the rogue Spectre's voice filled the area, leaving no doubt to the voice's owner as the group lined up three abreast on the narrow platform.

"You wanted proof?" Undia called to the council, several feet away, separated by a field of glass, "this is it."

"This evidence is irrefutable," answered the turian Councilor, "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

There was a collective nod from several in the Captain's party at the news, and John's shoulders sagged slightly in relief.

The asari Councilor folded her hands into a triangle shape, resting her chin upon them briefly for a moment, drawing the attention from the turian and salarian opposite of her. she refrained from speaking for only a moment before saying, "I recognize the other voice in the recording, the one speaking with Saren," she began, causing the meeting's focus to shift to her words, "Matriarch Benezia," she revealed, her words slightly surprised at themselves.

"Who's Matriarch Benezia?" Emily asked before the matter could be dropped, "And what_ is_ a matriarch?"

Lifting her head and straitening herself the asari explained, "Matriarchs are powerful asari who have entered the final stage of their lives and are revered for their wisdom and experience and serve as guides among my people," her voice strictly business toned voice inflecting with a trace of pride for her culture, "Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic, and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

"_I'm_ more interested in the Reapers," the salarian interrupted, "What do you know of them?" he asked the group.

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core," Anderson replied, excluding the red Commander's visions, "The Reapers are an ancient race of hyper advanced machines that wiped out the Prothean completely. Then they vanished."

"The geth believe the Reapers are gods," Emily added, "And that Saren is the prophet of their return."

Giving a look to the red head that stated_, let me handle this_, the Captain continued, "We believe the Conduit is the key to bringing them back and that Saren is searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime."

"Do we even know what this Conduit _is_?" asked the salarian, earning a nod from his turian counterpart in agreed curiosity.

Unable to refrain from speaking Emily replied, "It's linked to the Prothean beacons," she began before her face darkened, "and Saren is after it because he thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that _alone_ is reason enough to stop him from getting it."

"Listen to what you're saying Miss," the turian tsked angrily, "Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible. It has to be."

"Yeah and a moment ago it was _impossible_ for Saren to commit _treason_," John retorted, finger quoting, "So I guess there's going to be a lot of impossibilities being true today."

The turian neglected replying to the jibe but found the shin kick the boy's red headed sister gave him to be quite satisfying.

"This is different," the asari interrupted, causing John to scowl further as he resisted the urge to deck his sister, "You have proved that Saren has betrayed the council, but you have not proven the existence of these machines."

The turian cleared his throat and replied, "That's because these Reapers _don't_ exist. If these Reapers _did _exist, where did they go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd _know_."

Agreeing with his turian companion the salarian said, "These Reapers are obviously just a myth Commanders, a convenient lie that Saren is using to cover his true purpose. A legend to bend the geth to his will, nothing more."

"But I've _seen_ it!" Emily cried out desperately, wanting the Council to understand, "Fifty thousand years ago the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization! And if Saren finds the conduit it'll happen again," Emily continued, her voice ringing with righteous fury, "only instead of _Protheans_ it will be the turians, asari, humans, and krogans and everything _else_ they can find!"

John quickly grabbed the red head's shoulder, half to comfort her and half to stop her from marching over to the Council and beating them into believing her.

"Saren has been stripped of his status," the turian representative managed snarl, "He is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He'll be in no opportunity to make use of his ruse that you've fallen for Ms Commander."

"That's not good enough," cried Udina, "You _know_ he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse! Send your fleet in so we don't have to worry whether the Reapers are a clever ruse or not, and _take. Him. Down_."

"A fleet cannot track down one man," replied the salarian, shaking his head.

"A Citadel fleet could secure an entire region," Udina retorted, "keep the geth from attacking more of our colonies," he continued, lowering his voice.

"_Or_," the turian rebuked, "It could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems," he replied dryly, "We _won't_ be dragged into intergalactic war over a few dozen human colonies!"

"Then send one man," John seethed, "Or let_ us _take him down!" John barked, "But for god's sakes don't do _nothing_."

"The Commander does have a point," the asari replied, bemused, "there _is_ a way to stop Saren without using fleets or armies."

"No!" the turian rejected instantly, "It's too soon, humanity isn't ready for the responsibilities of joining the Spectres."

Sensing where the argument was going Emily rebuffed, "We faced Saren on Eden Prime and exposed him as a traitor. We've proven ourselves."

Turning to the red head the turian growled, "You've _proven_ to be nothing more than well dressed _savages_ Commander, or have you and your faux brother forgotten your actions on Torfan?"

"_WE WERE UNDER ORDERS,_" John shouted as he pulled his sibling back to take the front and paused, taking a deep breath to help calm himself, "And we _did_ what _needed_ to be _done_ for the sake of the _mission_."

"You used _unnecessary _and excessively violent _force,_" the turian countered, words filled with inflection.

"They _beat _and _raped_ their prisoners, _sold_ them like _property_, and you blame _us_ for killing every single one of those ugly fucking four eyed slave dealing _fucks?_!" John roared in disbelief as Emily bowed her head, her fists shaking, "You weren't fucking there _councilor_," John spat, "You didn't have to see what everything was like."

"You used your teammates as meat shields," the salarian offered, "some before they were even dead."

"Because we knew what nee-"

"I'm sorry," Emily whispered, cutting her brother and the Council off in surprise; she raised her lead and evened her voice as she continued, "The thing is Counselors, we _were_ savage. More than that we were _unstoppable_. That's what landed us in the Alliance Military instead of death row when we were kids. When Torfan happened we listened to our Commander, played things by the book, did our best. But there came the time when the book wasn't enough and he told us to get the job done," Emily continued, the world seeming to grow silent, "That was his last order Councilor, it was his dying breath and he said to get the job _done,"_ she paused and for a moment as she and her brother straightened, "We got it done. And no, it wasn't _pretty_. But war seldom is. John and I are quite familiar with it, having grown up in the shittiest shithole on earth, and growing up trying to survive day to day leaves its mark on you, and in more ways than one;" she looked at her brother briefly as he shot her a concerned look, _we don't need to tell them anything more Red._

Turning from him and back to the Council she continued, "We are _more_ than Marines. We are more than _soldiers_. We are _even_ more than _Butchers,_" she declared, "But if stopping Saren means getting the job _done_ my brother and I _promise you_ that we are the only ones who _will not stop_ until we have him either _crushed_ under our heels or in your fate deciding hands because we will let _nothing_ stand in our way."

Finished, the red head waited as the tension filled silence filled the air. In that moment, with both siblings standing at full height, with their scars bared and their shackles showing, it was possible in the glinting light to see the Commanders for what they really were for the first time: wild animals taught to be civilized, soldiers trained to be effective at all costs, and people gifted in the ways of war and words. The two siblings standing before them were as different as the colors of their armor yet they were both as willing to serve, search, and destroy as the other. Both willing to sacrifice the lives of others and the lives of their own to stop the enemy. Both willing to forsake _everything_ and stop at _nothing_, as if it was the only way of life they would live.

The sheer gaze from their eyes alone was enough to make the asari Councilwoman to beg surrender from the silent battle of wills. She could see why the siblings were often described as ruthless crusaders. She gave a prod to the turian, who looked at her, and nodded.

The turian Councilor sighed, his mandibles flicking. He opened his mouth to reply before quickly clasping it shut. Instead he merely nodded and the three Councilors typed away at their consoles silently. When they were finished the asari spoke out.

"Commanders Jonathan and Emily Shepard, please step forward."

Emily, the adrenalin fading from her veins, looked to her brother, who wore a similar expression. They turned to their Captain who nodded both encouragingly and proudly, his eyes twinkling with what Emily thought might have possibly been unshed tears of joy.

Getting the all clear, the N7's stepped forward to the end of the rail-less platform, each taking note to stop before accidently walking off the edge. Almost immediately, the news had been spread and people began filtering in on either side of the room's balconies; all eager to see the Butchers become the first human Spectres. Their names, if not spread before, would now be on the lips of every sentient being in Citadel space, and further, once the news got a hold on it. At the sight of them, John felt his sister's breath catch and he quickly tapped the back of her wrist, reminding her that she was fine before she was able to relax again.

Ignoring the gathering crowd, the asari continued, "It is the decision of the Citadel Council that you Commander Emily and Commander John Sheppard be granted all powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch."

Taking up from where the asari paused, the salarian continued, "Spectres are not trained, they are chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above rank and file."

"Spectres are an ideal," the asari continued, "A symbol. The embodiment of self-resilience, courage, and determination. They are the right hands of the Council," she stated proudly, "instruments of our will."

Reluctantly adding his piece the turian continued, "Spectres bare a great burden. They are protectors of galactic _peace_, both our first and last lines of defense. The safety of the _galaxy_ is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human Spectres Commanders, this is both an accomplishment for you _and _your entire species," added the asari.

A tad lightheaded Emily replied, "We are deeply honored, Councilors," bowing as her red and black armor allowed. John mirrored her, his calm written face hiding the storm beneath.

He stood and as respectively as he could, "What happens now?"

"We're sending you into the Traverse," replied the salarian, "After Saren. He's a fugitive from justice which means you and your sister are free to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"Is there a particular one that you're leaning towards?" asked Emily, her brain beginning to calculate strategies even as her brother began formulating plans.

Pausing for a moments the salarian replied, "We leave it up to your discretion on whatever situation should arise."

"Is there any idea where we can find him?" asked John, his hand stroking his chin, brain whirling away.

"We will forward any relevant files to ambassador Udina," replied the Turian wryly.

"Is that all?" asked the asari Councilman.

The siblings looked at each other and to their Captain, who shook his head; in perfect unison the siblings answered, "Affirmative."

Nodding, she smiled lightly before declaring, "Then this meeting is now adjourned, good luck Shepards."

The siblings nodded once more in respect and turned around, looking from their Captain to their crew and back again. Anderson was the first to step forward.

"Congratulations Commanders," he said, giving each of them a firm handshake laced with pride.

John uttered a quick, "Thanks Captain," and nodded somberly.

Emily, unable to keep from smiling, forfeited regulations temporarily to give the man a quick hug, earning a chuckle from the old man.

Breaking the celebratory mood that was beginning to sweep over them, Udina said quickly, "We've got a lot of work to do now Commanders, you're going to need a ship, rations and supplies, and a crew…" he trailed off.

At the frowns forming on the siblings faces Anderson stated, "You two will get access to special equipment and training now. Why don't you both head down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer."

"Yes Sir," John replied, "Anything in particular you want us to pick up?"

The captain shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid I'm not in charge of you two anymore John, so you're free to pick up what you want," he relented, slightly worried as to what weapons of mass destruction the two would no doubt find and fawn over.

John grinned, giving a playful nudge to his sister and nodded at the Captain.

"Alrighty then sir, we'll catch you when we're done."

The Captain nodded and made to leave before the Ambassador caught him, "Captain, come with me, I'm going to need your help to set all of this up…"

The man sighed and Emily waved at him as Udina dragged him off, earning a scowl.

When they were gone the group turned to regard each other, all a little unsure of what to make of each other now that things had been changed drastically.

The Chief Gunnery spoke up first, "Ma'am? Sir?"

"Yes Williams?" Emily answered, her brother grunting.

"Will you be in further need of Lieutenant Alanko and myself for your duration on the Citadel?"

"Why yes Williams," Emily replied with her eyes closed, nodding sagely; when she opened them they were filled with violet mischief, surprising the Gunnery, "Kaidan still owes us all drinks."

Alanko groaned as John and Wrex let out a gruff huzzah and chuckle at the thought of getting the good stuff for free while Ashley paled at the regulation breaking statement before smiling herself.

"Is a turian bluebritch allowed to partake in that offer?" Garrus asked, feeling that the day called for a tall stiff one.

"Certainly my good man," John replied, throwing one arm around his sister and the other around the turian, "And Tali too," he added as they began down the stairs.

"T-Tank you Commander," the quarian replied quickly, "But I do not think zat-"

"It's ok Tali, you don't have to drink any if you don't want to," Emily tossed over her shoulder to the hooded girl, "But you _do_ have to record whatever stupid shit spills from my brother's mouth when he's hammered. It's hilarious."

Tali chuckled and calmed, happy to avoid the "suit conversation" as her people often referred to it as; she smiled though no one could see it and replied, "Whatever you say Ms Commander."

The quarian frowned slightly as they descended and her body language shifted, prompting a questioning glance from the L-T.

"Something wrong, ma'am?" he asked.

Lifting her head up she quickly replied, "No it's just… Nevermind."

Braking away from her brother Emily slowed her pace until she was beside the quarian, "Just what Tali?"

Seeing earnestly in the violet eyes Tali replied, "I would have thought the Ambassador would be a little more grateful. He didn't even thank you or your brother."

Laughing Emily put her hand on the girl's shoulder to steady herself before replying, "Well what do you expect from a politician? Seriously though, don't worry about it Tali," she added, grinning lopsidedly before noticing how far her brother had gotten ahead of her. She scowled and tossed the quarian a wink before racing forth to reach the end before her blue suited sibling.

"Are they always like this?" the quarian asked the man behind her.

"Pretty much yeah," Kaidan replied sighing, "I really hope they were kidding about the drinks…" he muttered under his breath, fearful for his wallet.

At the bottom of the stairs John and Emily waited for the rest of their crew to assimilate, Emily panting slightly, hands on her knees, as she had won the race.

"Commanders?" the gunnery asked.

"Before we drink ourselves into oblivion we have a few things to take care of,"  
>Emily replied, straightening herself up.<p>

"Ma'am?"asked the L-T.

Emily turned to her brother who crossed his arms, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Pick me up something pretty Johnny," she commanded.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?"

"I'm going to talk to that Consort and fix the mess she caused. Then I'm going scan some keepers. Maybe poke around, n'see what's else's lyin'round."

"Not alone you're not…" John warned.

"Fine, I'll take Tali with me-"

"_Red…_"

"-And Ash," she continued, her brother facepalming; "You can take the boys and do the shopping while we do the talking," she decided, "Have fun," she singsinged, waving at group before spinning around and trodding off, ignoring her brother's profanities and the chuckles in the group; "Williams, Tali!" Emily barked without turning around, "We don't have all day!"

"I'd say it's been quite a day all ready," the Gunnery muttered under her breath before shooting a look at Kaidan, "You better pick me up a souvenir," she said, smirking, before racing off after the wayward Commander, the quarian already halfway there.

John watched them until they fell out of sight and rubbed his temples, prompting the C-Sec officer to speak.

"Is she allowed to do that?"

"Unfortunately…" John replied, "Come on, we got weapons to secure," he ordered, heading for the Transit, "The sooner we get done the sooner we can stop my sister..."

Before the red suited Commander could reach the Consort's quarters, a worried looking man in a slightly wrinkled white suit approached her, his hands clenched in front of his as if afraid his words would not go over well.

Emily gave a nod to her mini unit and stopped short of the Transit, allowing the man to come forth.

"Sir?"

"My name is Samesh Bhatia," he replied, his thick accent pleasing to the red head's ears, "Are you perchance a Commander Shepard?"

"Yes Mr. Bhatia," she replied, nodding, "I am Commander Emily Sheppard, N7 of the Alliance military and sister of Commander Jonathan Shepard, also N7 Alliance military. Both of us have also been recently joined the ranks of the Spectres. How can I be of use to you?"

"Please," he said, "Forgive my intrusion, I know you are a busy person, but I have no one else to turn to…"

"It's no trouble I assure you. What do you need?"

"My wife was a Marine," he replied gravely, "She was in the 212 on Eden Prime."

Gasping, Ashley interrupted, "The 212? Are you talking about Nirali?"

"You know her?" the man asked surprised.

"I… That is, I was part of the 212…" she replied softly.

"Then you realize that she deserves her final peace," he replied before returning his attention to the Commander, "I've requested my wife's body be returned to me for proper cremation, but the military has refused my request."

"Why did they refuse? There had to have been a reason for them to deny her the proper respects."

"I do not know," he admitted, "all I _do_ know is that they have declared it impossible for my wife's body to be returned to me."

"Shepard," Williams said, tugging Emily's attention from the widower, "I _knew_ that woman, and she was a _good_ person. A _good _asset to the 212…"

Nodding Emily turned her attention back to the man, "Don't worry sir, I'll have it taken care of before the day is out."

His shoulders sagged as if relieved of a terrible burden and he smiled for the first time in their conversation, "Thank you, you cannot know how much this means to me. The man in charge of my case is Mr. Bosker, the last time I saw him, he was in that expensive bar over there," he replied, pointing, "I thank you for your time Miss, I just want to give my wife a proper funeral and the respect she deserves," he finished before bowing slightly and walking away.

Emily stood silent, watching the man for a few moments.

"Commander?" came Tali's voice timidly.

"We'll solve the business with the dead Marine first, Consort be damned," Emily replied, her voice lacking any warmth, "This is completely unacceptable."

"I agree completely skipper," the Gunnery replied, nodding.

Without a word the Shepard marched forward, the heels of her boots hitting the ground sharply with every step, red hair flickering slightly from the motions.

"Are we going to shoot za bastard?" asked Tali, taking notice in the Commander's sudden change in demeanor.

"Only if we have to I hope," Ashley replied when Emily neglected to do so.

After a few turns of corners and a couple more flights of stairs they reached their destination and Emily scanned the room, violet eyes scanning the crowd gathered in the tiny day bar for anyone who looked befitting the name "Bosker."

A table of Alliance brass, a lone asari typing away at a private portable terminal, a few drunkards dozing on the farthest table to the right, the lone bartender… _There_. The boyfaced man in the in blue armed with a clipboard. To Emily's trained perception, he reeked of self-righteous ideas that forfeited morality. It was in the way he was standing, leaning against the wall… In the way he glanced over his clipboard, as if it was all important. He looked no older than twenty, if that. A kid.

A kid keeping a man from giving a Marine her proper respects.

Emily snarled and marched up to the man, Tali and the Gunnery following close behind.

Catching sight of the intimidating woman before him he exclaimed, "Holy shit! You're a Shepard!"

"_Commander_ Shepard," Emily corrected, devoid of emotion.

Continuing undeterredly Bosker said, "You and your brother's activities made for quite a briefing in the Diplomatic Corpse! Is there something I can do to assist you?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes," Emily stated, "There is. A man named Samesh is having trouble claiming his wife's body…" she trailed off, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Ahh, Mr. Bhatia," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "A good man in an understandably frustrating position. I wish I could help him," he said offhandedly, "serviceman Nirali Bhatia died on Eden prime as I'm sure he told you. Her wounds are inconsistent with any type of damage we've seen, and that's why her body is being held."

"You think that her body might be contaminated or contagious?" asked the Gunnery, now a little worried as she noticed her Commander's hands glowing.

"No Ma'am," he replied, "But her body is extremely valuable to the Alliance," he continued, straightening his posture happily, as Emily's shoulders tensed, "The tests we're doing may lead to better defenses against the Geth, respectfully, serviceman Bhatia may save _more_ lives in death than she did in life."

"So there is no chance of Mr. Bhatia getting his wife's remains?" asked Tali.

"I'm afraid it's just not going to be possible," he replied, shaking his head as the Gunnery and the quarian quickly stepped back, sensing that somehow, this was _not_ the correct answer.

Without warning Emily shoved the man up against the wall, her arms glowing with biotics as she snarled in his face; "You know who and what I am. If I want Nirali Bhatia I can get her or my _brother_ will get her _for_ me," she seethed, a breath away from the man's face.

"C-Commander," he rushed worriedly, "I don't think threats are nessi-"

"I am _not_," Emily interrupted, shoving him harder, "_threatening_ you Sir," she growled, "I'm _ordering_."

"Even _if _the body was here on the Citadel Ma'am would you really risk going in shooting to get it?" he whimpered, hoping that the comment would defer the woman.

Her eyes widening she stepped back and punched her free bioticly charged hand into the wall beside the boy's head, causing him to shrink away as she shouted, "Her _name_ was Nirali Bhatia, and if _you_ want _to cut her open_ you better damn well _use_ it," she ordered, he face still snarling, "You said you'd been briefed on me... You should have known how I'd feel on the matter."

"A-all right Commander Ma'am," he replied shakily, "I'm not going to risk anything... T-Tell Samesh that the body is being shipped back to Earth. I'll go see to it mys-self," he offered, close to passing out.

Relenting, Emily let go, dropping him to the floor.

"The next time you or your friends think about cutting up the dead I want you to remember just why and who they were fighting for in the first place," she said, her voice emotionless once more and with that, she turned on her heels and strode out of the bar.

Tali and Chief Williams glanced at each other, both slightly shocked at the red head's behavior and quickly followed her.

They soon found Mr. Bhatia almost where they had left him.

"Hello again Commander," he replied nodding, "I don't suppose there has been any word as of yet?"

"I took care of it sir," Emily replied, "I reminded Mr. Bosker what we're fighting for. Your wife is coming home."

Surprised but grateful he bowed his head and replied, "Thanks you Miss, I will return home and begin preparations at once. It does not bring me happiness, but it may bring me piece," he admitted, "A blessing to you and your brother, and may the day shine brightly upon you," he finished, bowing once more before turning to leave.

The trio watched him go and the tension that had filled Emily vanished into the back of her mind. Her body relaxing she turned to her two companions, "That went rather well, don't you think?"

"Skipper you made the poor boy piss himself."

"Builds character," Emily replied, shrugging, "Now come on, I still have to find that Consort before my brother get's done shopping."

In the requisitions room Wrex, Garrus, and Kaidan eyed the various weapons decorating the walls while John talked to the turian behind the desk.

"One moment please," said the requisition officer politely, "I have to look you up…"

He tapped away at his terminal while John crossed his arms, glancing occasionally at the others in the room. Every few minutes or so the requisitions officer would click his tongue and type faster.

After what was a good ten minutes the turian replied surprisedly, "Commander Jonathan Shepard, Alliance Military N7 and human Spectre."

"Call me John," the blue eyed Commander replied, waving a hand dismissively.

"Your first time here on the Citadel? That right?"

"My sister's actually, but she's off doing god knows what at the moment. Got anything good?"

"Alright, let me just let me open up our select stock…"

He typed away on his terminal until a door to his right opened up, stocked extensively with weapons of every type and variety. It also sported accessories and mods to customize and improve them. Wrex grunted appreciatively while Garrus clicked his mandibles; in all his time in C-Sec he had never been cleared entrance into the room.

The Lieutenant, worried about regulations looked at the requisitions officer and opened his mouth but the turian quickly waved his hand.

"If you're here with the Spectre you can look too. You're under his clearance though so if you do something stupid it's on his shoulders."

"Just get in here L-T and help me pick out something for the Gunnery," John ordered, eyeing the row of assault rifles and ammo changes.

"What about your Sister Commander?" he replied as he brushed past the krogan occupying himself with the ammo boxes.

"If you think you can pry her away from her pistols you be my guest," he replied without tearing his eyes from the guns.

The turian requisitions officer sighed and slumped in his seat, realizing the Spectre and his men were going to be a while. He didn't dare comment on it however, for he didn't particularly care to see if the rumor of 'The Butchers' were true.

The ladies hopped onto another Transit car and made their way to the Consort's chambers and in front on the room an asari with a rather revealing, if flattering, cut dress was ushering people to and fro. Emily cast a quick glance at the Gunnery who seemed gruff but compliant before her eyes opened wide. She turned to the quarian, grabbing her shoulder lightly.

"Are you even _old enough_ to go in there?"

"I assure you Commander, in this suit, I'm probably going to be the safest out of the three of us," she replied her posture belaying her amusement.

Emily grinned before turning, "Well in that case let's get going."

They approached the greeter politely, and she greeted them warmly.

"Welcome, I am Nelyna," she began, looking Emily over, "I don't recognize you as one of our expected clients today," she said somewhat hesitantly, "would you like me to see when the Consort will be able to meet with you?" she offered politely.

"Can't I just go in?" Emily asked nicely, infectious lopsided grin in full effect.

"Mhmm, I'm afraid not," Nelyna chuckled, her smile broadening, "You must understand that there are many who seek the Consort's services. But if you leave your name," she offered, "She'll make _every_ effort to meet with you."

Thinking, Emily asked, "What _is_ the Consort? What does she _do_?"

Taken aback the greeter replied, "Mmm, it's… difficult to explain…" she began, rubbing the back of her neck, "She is many things to many people _and_ offers something different to each," she continued happily, "Some seek her for advice, some for her wisdom or entertainment, others still for pleasure. Most of the time our clients won't even realize what they were seeking until after she has provided it for them."

"You make her sound like an Oracle," Emily replied running a finger across the scar on her upper lip.

"No," the asari replied, shaking her head, "Not in the usual sense," she explained, "She's merely a woman, with remarkable compassion and a generous spirit. I'd suggest making an appointment and seeing for yourself."

Emily glanced at the Gunnery who shrugged in reply, "Not my call ma'am."

Nodding she glanced over at the quarian who remained silent, but shifted her weight slightly, showing her hesitation at being asked to give an opinion.

Emily turned back to the greeter, having made up her mind; "I think we're done here."

"Oh I do hope we'll see you return in the future," the asari replied, "We always enjoy meeting new clients!"

As the last of her words escaped her lips her smile faltered as she clapped a hand to the device in her ear, she held her other hand in the halting position towards the Commander as she listened to the person on the other end. Emily turned to the Gunnery who shrugged and waved a hand in the air dismissively; _The hell if I know Commander. _

Looking back at Nelyna Emily nearly jumped when the asari regarded her with a full smile saying, "It appears the Consort has taken notice of you. She'd like to meet with you now."

"She _wants _to see me?" the Spectre asked confused, "Why?"

"I don't know," replied the greeter, her shoulders shrugging, "You'll have to ask her yourself," she offered, still smiling infectiously, "Just head upstairs," she directed, point, "She'll be waiting for you."

"Thank you then," Emily replied, dipping her head politely before motioning Williams and Tali to follow her.

They walked past a room filled with large semicircular couches on either side, dotted with clients and the people attending to them. Past that room the N7 and her team found the stairwell, guarded by the acolytes who weren't currently using their services. The air suddenly feeling thicker, Emily slowed her gait, almost wishing her brother were beside her. Brushing it off, she continued forward through a hall decorated with plants and dim light until she came to Consort's door. She paused, wondering if she was supposed to know for propriety's sake before the door slid open on its own accord.

Clearing her throat the red head stepped into the large room, taking it in at a glance, instinctually making off all exit strategies and vantage points before resting her eyes on the Consort herself. She strode forward a few steps before the asari spoke.

"That is close enough Commander," she said, pausing the Spectre in her steps, "I've heard a great many things about your brother and you since your arrival here at the Citadel," she continued, never turning to face the red head.

"I take it Johnny and I caused quite a stir today, eh?"

"You have no idea," she replied pleasantly, "I make it my business to know when important people arrive on the Citadel. Oftentimes these people become my clients," she explained, "That however is not why I asked you here."

"If it's not rude to do so, can I ask exactly why you _did_ let me in?"

"I have a certain problem that could use your expertise…" she replied, turning around to face the red head.

"Should I call my brother?" Emily asked, her hand already reaching for her earpiece.

"No," the asari replied quickly, the Spectre's hand dropping, "I'm sure you'll fill him in if necessary no doubt," she reasoned, Emily nodding affirmatively, "But I feel that you obtain the more necessary skills I need…"

"Can you tell me about this problem?"

"I have a friend, Septimus, a retired turian general. I won't discuss the details but he wanted me to be more then I could be," she explained, walking closer to the red head, "Now he spends his days at Chora's Den, drinking and spreading lies about me."

Emily's face paled, moreso then it already naturally was and gulped before interrupting, "Yeah, um, Johnny and I wiped that place clean earlier…"

Here the asari chuckled slightly, "Ms Shepard, here at the Citadel things move at a constant unstoppable pace. Only an hour after you took care of Fist's men did the Den start running again."

"Damn, that's good service," Ashley replied, surprised, Tali nodding, Emily grinning.

Her grin slipped when the asari continued, "If you would speak to Septimus as a fellow soldier," she insisted, running a gentle hand across the Commander's face, Emily's eyes widening, "I'm sure he will listen to you and let the matter be," she finished, pulling her hand away.

Shaking off the feeling of being touched from her skin Emily nodded, her sense of duty invoked, "I'll do my best Ma'am."

"Thank you Commander," she replied gratefully, "that is all I can ask."

Before Emily turned away she asked for further clarification, making sure she had her mission clear, "Talk to Septimus and convince him to shapen up. No guns, that about it?"

Nodding the Consort replied sensually, "Appeal to his sense of honor, remind him of his position as a general," she continued, stepping forward to hug the woman, "If you can convince him to stop spreading lies about me, I would be very grateful," she finished before pulling away.

"I'll see to it," Emily replied as the asari walked back to her window. Knowing the meeting was over the Commander turned and without looking to either of her squadmates continued along the hall and down the stairs in even gallant strides. Inwardly, the red head was more jittery then she cared to admit.

"What do you think Commander?" Ashley whispered quietly, picking up on the Spectre's strange behavior.

"Well she certainly knows how to make a compelling argument…" Emily muttered.

The Gunnery nodded in reply as they headed out of the Consort's domain, Tali returning the wave from the pleasant asari greeter while the red head flashed her another smile.

"So what happens when your brother finds out you've been doing favors for a high class hooker?"

"Williams?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Shut up."

"Yes Ma'am."

They quickly made their way back to Chora's Den and just as the Consort had said, it was fully up and running as if nothing had been amiss. Emily couldn't even see any traces of the bloodstains.

"Da~mn," she commented, "Wish I had this kind of service back on Torfan..."

Then taking stock of the bar Emily decided that this would be where the L-T would make good on those drinks, after she'd finished everything up of course. Brushing past dancers and half naked asari Emily started looking for a turian matching the Consort's description. _He'd be drinking, depressed, reeking of booze and cheap whores._ She thought, _a general… slightly arrogant…_

There.

Sitting alone at one of the red lit tables the turian was nursing what appeared to be his fifth drink, if the empty glasses were a correct indicator. Striding forward, her body exuding military status, walked over to him.

"A Commander Shepard," he gruffed surprised, sitting up, "What do you want?"

Crossing her arms Emily responded in the same tone she used to scold the rookies in base camp, "I'm here on the Consort's behalf. Your lies are hurting her. _And_ her clients."

"Good," Septimus shouted over the throbbing music, "The lies have been killing me for days," he offered lowering his head and placing his hand on his knee, "I've seen a lot of horrible things in my days and there's only one woman in this damned galaxy that helps me forget it."

"Then why create rumors and lies about this woman?" Tali asked, confused at such conflicting interests.

"Cause she rejected _me_," he replied angrily, sitting up, "ME. Septimus Orraca, General of the turian fleet."

Emily snorted, "Yes, you seem quite the general to me. Boozing over a broken heart. Spreading petty lies to make yourself feel better… though I doubt that either is working for you," she jabbed, the general beginning to snarl, "What kind of example is this to give your troops?"

"The troops can kiss my grey leathery backside," he replied, defiant, "All I wanted was to retire," he began, his voice losing its fire as he lowered his head, "and to be with her..."

The turian sighed and glanced over the Commander before him before saying, "Look kid, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you're wasting your time."

Not willing to admit defeat Emily slammed her fists against the table, making most of the bar jump; "You're a goddamn General Sir," Emily shouted, catching the turian by surprise, "You should goddam'well start acting like it."

Huffing idly Septimus replied, "Just like that? You really think it's that easy? …Just… Straighten up and act like a General?"

"Well it would be more productive then sitting here," Tali offered, her posture clearly indicating she was not at ease with either the General's actions, the bar, or both.

Looking at the flicker of doubt beginning to run across the turian's eyes Emily straightened up and added, "Life hurts Sir. Sometimes it likes to hit below the belt and all we can do is get on up and keep swinging."

"Huh…" he replied, mulling it over, "Maybe you're right Commander, Shi'ira is worth the effort even if she won't have me back."

"That's the spirit Sir," Emily replied, grinning happily.

Standing up the turian added, "Alright… I'll go to her," then, thinking it over he said sheepishly, "After a cold shower…or two."

"Probably for the best Sir," Emily replied, nodding.

"You know," he began, his tone catching the Spectre's ears, "You're a bright kid, would you be interested in a few extra credits?"

"I'm usually all for them Sir, as they come in handy," the red head replied honestly.

"There's an elcor diplomat out there who believes Shi'ira gave up his secrets…"

"Why would he think such a thing?" asked Tali, tilting her head.

"Because I told him," he replied gruffly, "Look," he continued, glancing back at the red Spectre, "I just need you to convince him of the truth."

"And you can't tell him yourself because?" asked the Gunnery, annoyed with the alien's actions.

"Because the last time I spoke with him I was disparaging his ancestors and… shouting his secrets in public," he replied, embarrassed, "Take this data pad, it shows where I got my info and it should help you convince him of Shi'ira's innocence. His name is Xeltan, the elcor diplomat."

"Hey Skipper wasn't he the thing you were talking to this morning?"

"I do believe you're right Ms Williams," Emily replied before turning to the turian, "Alright then Sir, we've got this."

"Thank you. Well," he said, picking up his drink, "Here's to soldiers _acting_ like soldiers," he toasted before dropping the glass, "You know Commander, you might make a good General yourself one day…" he added absently as he walked off.

Emily grinned and turned to her squad mates, "General Emily Sheppard, N7 and Council Spectre. Has a nice ring don'cha think?"

"Kee'lah Sheppard, you are not serious?"

"Of course not Tali dear, now let's get going. If I know my brother it'll only be a matter of minutes now before he tries to track me down."

Setting off at a dead run the Commander and her mini troop raced to find the elcor, finding him in the same room he had been in before, causing Emily to pause.

"Chief?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"How long have we been on the Citadel?"

"Beats me Commander, I can't even tell what time it is," she answered, mumbling profanities about the way the station was lit up.

Foregoing with her mission the black armored Spectre walked up to the elcor, clearing her throat gently to grab his attention.

"Hello human. Curious. What do you know about the Consort and her relationship to me?"

"The Consort didn't reveal any of your secrets Xeltan," she responded, "It was a turian named Septimus. He apologizes by the way."

"Unbelieving. I know this Septimus and he could not have gained access to my secrets. The only way he could learn them is from the asari Consort."

"Not true," Ashley interrupted, gesturing to the data pad, "Look'it this."

Nodding Emily held the data pad in front of the elcor and paused, reading it before replying, "Confused. This is difficult to fathom. If the turian could learn this on his own… Dismayed. Anyone could discover my secret."

Smiling her best grin Emily replied, "Septimus is a powerful man and it wouldn't have been easy getting his hands on this," she said, shaking the data pad, "I don't think anyone else would be able to. Or want to go through the trouble for that matter."

"Relieved, I suppose you are correct human. Thank you for this information. Startled realization. I must speak with the Consort, she will be most displeased with my actions. Anxious request."

"Yes?"

"Please human, if you will excuse me, I must go now."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, it was an honest mistake. I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"Doubtful. Perhaps you are right human," he replied before slowly turning and walking away.

Emily watched him for a few seconds before absently waving the data pad around.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Perhaps you can give it to the Consort for safe keeping?" suggested Tali.

"Better'n dumping it the trash I suppose. Back to the Consort then," Emily sighed before heading out of the Embassy room.

"Commander…"

"Yes Tali?"

"Does your brother usually take such a long time choosing weapons?"

"He doesn't usually buy weapons," the red Spectre replied honestly, "But I'm sure we'll run into him eventually, he did want to see you at the bar after all," she replied, tossing the quarian a wink and startling the enviro-suited girl.

Walking at a slower, leisurely pace, the mini squad returned to the asari Consort's domain. The greeter hailed them happily and Emily found herself grinning.

"Septimus has sent word, apparently he sought the Consort's forgiveness," she stated happily."

"Damn, this place works on its own timeline or something," Emily commented dryly as she strode passed the greeter.

"Umm Commander?" asked the asari confused, "I haven't cl-"

"I just finished her favor. Now I'm going to wrap it up and stuff it in storage," the red head replied without turning around, Tali and the Gunnery following close behind, leaving the greeter speechless.

Passing by the clients, some being the same from before, others different, Emily quickly found herself once again in the Consort's room. The proud arasi woman was standing patently, as if expecting her.

"Comander," she began, "I recently received a lovely note from Septimus, I thank you for speaking with him."

Emily shrugged slightly and replied honestly, "I'm glad I could help."

"You're too kind Commander," Shi'ira replied, "But I would not expect you to help out of the kindness of your heart. I have something to give you, if you are interested."

"Curiosity has always been my weakness," Emily replied with lopsided grin, "What is it?"

"I offer a gift of words. An affirmation of who you are and who you will become," she replied, walking sagely towards the red head.

"All right, sounds neat to me," the red head chuckled, "It certainly couldn't hurt."

Taking a long firm look over the woman Shi'ira began earnestly, "I see your skin, tough as the scales of any thresher maw, unyielding as it rests on troubled waters beneath. A veil between you and everyone else, but it protects you, makes you strong. That strength is what has kept you alive. What kept your brother alive," she continued, dark blue eyes staring intently at ones of violet, "And you will continue to survive. This may be who you are, but it is not who you will become. It only forms the basis of your future greatness. Remember these words when doubt descends."

"…And… who is it that I'll become?" asked the red head quietly, her mind now deep in thought, "Or is that not part of the bargain?"

The second statement came out harder than the Shepard intended, causing her to wince slightly, though she made no attempt to excuse it; w_ords once said could never be taken back,_ she thought.

Also thinking deeply, for a moment the Consort remained silent, walking a slow circle around the woman before coming to a stop in front of her once more.

"Close your eyes Commander," she ordered softly.

Finding the order odd, but seeing no reason to refuse it as both she and the two women behind her were more than capable of springing into action if necessary, the Spectre closed her eyes. It was a display of trust that her brother would have personally shot her for; the thought caused her to grin unconsciously, _If only I had a credit for everything I'd done that he'd shoot me for…_ Then the Commander waited patiently, _one_ second, _two, three_, before confused impatience flickered through her and she opened them again only to meet eyes of pitch black surrounded by the familiar blue of the Consort's skin, taking the red head slightly aback.

"Embrace eternity," Shi'ira whispered.

Somewhere in a vague part of her mind, Emily heard the Gunnery say something, but as the black sucked her in she couldn't tell what it was. Everything slowed to a grinding halt, or else everything sped up so fast she couldn't keep up -the red head wasn't sure of which. She felt her awareness shifting, her focus changing. She stopped breathing but her heart beat faster than it ever had before; her breaths then became doubled, then became only one, mirroring her heart, her body, her head.

It was as if she was no longer herself. 'She' was there yet not, changed yet the same. Emily no longer knew what her 'self' consisted of, it was too changed, too powerless to describe what she now was. She was part of something. Connected. A double flickering of awareness lapped up the realization into the blackness. The blackness overtook her, surrounding her, and then, almost as instantly as it all had started, she _was_ the blackness. A barren endless void as deep as it was strong.

She was staring into violet eyes, glancing from her scars to her flaming red hair while she was looking at blue skin, black eyes. Black. So much blackness that quickly turned red. Screams filled her mind as images began relentlessly flashing through her mind.

_She was five, trapped in a drain pipe. The big hands were falling from the sky. The dog tried to get up, but it couldn't, he stayed on his side panting desperately, eyes pleading. _

"_Why won't he wakeup Johnny? We won't he get up?" _

"_He's dead Red…"_

_The weight of her pistols, held by the triggers on her pinkies as she sent waves after wave of biotics in front of her as if parting a sea of the dead. Her throat was dry, so very dry…her body so very very tired; how long had it been sense she had last eaten? _

"_I brought you some booze Red, your favorite…" _

"_Thanks Johnny, how'd ja always know?"_

"_Lucky guess." _

_Her brother's face bleeding as she held him in her arms, screaming at him not to leave her. Reporters flashing their cameras in her face, Johnny screaming at them to get back. Private Lear being dragged off by the bartarian men, her Commander fighting frantically to get his daughter back. The Protheans screaming as they were slaughtered mercilessly. Her leg, nearly crushed by the fallen pipe. The rush of the subway trains as they brushed past her so fast that their force pushing her away was the only thing saying the skin of her nose she was standing so close. Horrible screams, frightened children clutching their parents, themselves, then nothing as the ships gunned them down. _

The images flashed at lightning speed, in no order, no quarrelation and no end. The images went on forever.

And then continued.

_Her brother shaking her, trying to snap her out of the bad place. Her reflection coated in the blood of the eleven year old boy she had just beaten to death. The needles. The implants. The Citadel. An ancient ruin. Anderson's face as he shook her hand._

"_Congratulations on becoming a Spectre."_

"_How did they find us Johnny?"_

"_Someone must have squealed… Fucking rats…"_

"_What are they going to do to us?"_

"…_I don't know Red… I don't know."_

"_The sky looks terrible today my brother, I think that means we're winning."_

_The warm smile of the good Doctor, slathering her up with medi gel for the hundred and seventh time. The Reapers. The Reds. Everything colorless save for the blinking of a single light. Blood spilt by herself, her brother, her troops that began blurring into the faces of the Prothean people._

Emily found herself drowning in the color red and just when she nearly gave herself to it the color faded.

Slowly, red became purple. _Violet. Lilac eyes. Blue seas. Green grass. Summer skies._ The images were familiar yet not her own Emily somehow knew, yet didn't; they were foreign to her mind and her brain didn't know how to process them, red spewing forth to block out the intrusion as her self rejected the intrusion of her other. Gently, blue tinted the red, occasionally adding flares of yellow and green. Reluctantly, her mind accepted them, to wary to fight the unknown further. Pain dullened, red dissolved. Emily could think again, the blackness returning once more before it began pulling away.

Emily found her head working at hyper intensity as she was herself once more, every sense at once processing everything they could, yet she couldn't quite comprehend any of it. If it hadn't have been for her combat training, she'd no doubt have found herself hyperventilating from the sensory overload. She glanced at the Consort and unknowingly stepped back, trying to grasp a hold over the situation, to reclaim her control; her breath uneven and her chest breathing slightly, hands nearly shaking.

Calmly, the Consort smiled and softly said, "Your troubled mind has been touched by the Protheans, casting it into further turmoil. Red staining black. -That is the what of things… Your journey shall be hard. The road long and winding. Peril will plague you. As to who you will become Commander?" she reiterated, nodding, "You will become your legacy, and I'm afraid that's all I can say on the matter," she replied before turning around and picking up a trinket from her desk.

Still shaken, Emily eyed it warily as if the trinket would transform into a thresher maw; it would have been easier to handle then what her head had just been through, she descided.

"Please take it Commander. Perhaps it will bring you comfort in the darkness."

Emily nodded slowly and looked at the small artifact, a small part of her brain wondering where it had come from, part of her expecting it to attack her, the rest of her mind still unable to process much of anything.

"And now I must ask you to leave," stated the asari politely but without room for argument, "I have done everything I can for you," she finished before walking back to her window.

Wordlessly Emily turned around, slowly, as if wading through thick mud and began heading for the exit. Concerned, the Gunnery and the quarian shot each other a look, though Tali's was hidden by her helmet. They didn't bother to respond to the greeter as they past her, they were too focused on the stoic Spectre.

When they reached the nearest Transit station, the Commander stopped and stood, still silent, for a few tense moments of nervous anticipation. Then the red head mechanically lifted a single hand to the device in her ear, gently pressing the call button with a gloved finger. When the connection clicked on she let out a single word.

"Johnny."

Almost instantly, the blue Spectre responded, worried by the lack of tone in his sister's voice, "What the hell happened? What's going on? Are you hurt?"

"Where are you Johnny?" she asked monotonously, ignoring his tirade of questioning.

"The Flux, waiting for you, we can up an'ditch thou-"

"Meet me at the docking bay. I want to get back on the ship."

"Em-"

"I'll try to explain everything later Johnny," Emily replied, lifting her finger from the button and severing the connection.

In the Flux, John swore.

"What's wrong Runt?" asked the krogan, setting down his drink.

"Pack it up you guys, we have to get the Normandy," he ordered slamming most of his remaining credits onto the table to cover the drinks, surprising Kaidan as the L-T had thought it his job to do so. After paying John finished the last of his gin in a single gulp and set the empty glass on the tray of a turian serving girl passing by. He wiped his mouth and headed for the door, Garrus and the Lieutenant following close behind.

Eyeing his drink mournfully Wrex sighed and followed suit. He could always get another he supposed, getting up. Then, shaking his head and grinning, he shot the bar tender a look and took the bottle with him.

The blue Spectre made a mad dash to the nearest Transit terminal and picked the destination that was as close to the loading dock as he could get it to go as his mini squad formulated behind him. Impatiently, the blue eyed Commander shifted his weight repeatedly until the car arrived and he wasted no time in throwing himself into his seat, the other three talking a bit longer to follow suit.

"So your sister dead or something?" asked the krogan, eyeing the Commander's behavior warily.

"If you fucking suggest something like that again Wrex," the commander snapped, "Ima throw you out of this car and run you over with it," he growled, willing the car to go faster.

The krogan grunted, replying, "It'd be funny to see you try."

"I'm sure she's fine Sir," offered the Lieutenant, "After all I'm sure that neither Chief Gunnery Williams or that quarian would let anything happen to her."

"That's Tali to you L-T," he snapped before lowering his head. He sighed, rubbing his temples, and muttered, "I swear to god that if she's hurt I'm going to kill her."

"What if she just did something stupid?" Garrus asked, gesturing with his hand.

"Then I'm fucking going to kill her."

The car stopped and John let out a breath of relief before catching sight of his sister climbing into the locking dock elevator with Tali and the gunnery, causing him to scowl upon realizing he wouldn't make it before the doors closed.

"She looked fine to me," Garrus offered and John tore himself from the car, groaning again.

"I'm going to kill her. I'm going to fucking _kill_'er."

The C-Sec officer chuckled as he followed the black haired Commander; humans were kinda funny when they were angry.

The blue squad made it to the elevator moments after it had carried the females away, prompting John to curse once more, which only led to the two aliens' amusement and to Kaidan's further unease.

When they finally made it to the loading dock John lost all train of thought when he noticed his sister, shoulders slumped and head bowed as the Captain and the Ambassador stood silent. Catching sight of his presence, Anderson waved him over and offered an apologetic smile.

When he closed the gap Udina strove forward and clapped him on the shoulder, "I've got big news for you my boy," he began, causing John's skin to crawl, "Captain Anderson is stepping down as the commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."

John glanced at his sister, and finding her face unreadable, he turned to Anderson who nodded.

"The ship is quick and quiet are you know the crew," he offered, "The perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well Commander."

"Emily is coming with me, right?"

Raising his brow the ex-Captain replied, "Why wouldn't she my boy?"

Relaxing the set of his shoulders John nodded, "Just checking Sir."

Lifting her head up, the red head gave a quick salute before saying, "We promise we'll take good care of the ship Sir. Reds' honors," she swore, her tone almost back to normal.

Chuckling Anderson replied, "I know you will Commander."

"Sir?" she asked, her eyes wary.

"Yes Commander?"

"Why are you stepping down? You _love_ the Normandy…"

"You and your brother needed a ship Shepard. A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council. And," he added, his voice wary, "It was time for me to step down."

"Please elaborate Captain," Emily asked again, eyes pleading to make sense of it all.

He sighed and relented; "About twenty years ago I was considered for joining the Spectres."

Surprised, John moved to stand behind Emily, grabbing her shoulder lightly as he asked, "Why didn't you ever say anything Captain?"

"And what was I supposed to say Commander?" he snapped angrily, "That I had a chance to join the Spectres and I blew it? I _failed_ John, that's not something that I'm proud of."

"I'm sorry Sir," the red head replied earnestly.

Rubbing his temples Anderson replied, "Ask me later and someday I'll tell you the whole story, but for now, all you need to know is that I went on a mission with Saren and he made sure the Council rejected me;" he paused, clasped his hands behind his back and looked over the siblings before finishing, "I had my shot, it came and it went. Now you both have a chance to make up for my mistakes. I hope for humanity that you're able to."

"We won't let you down Sir," John replied, his voice filled with conviction, "We'll find where that bastard is hiding and stop him for good."

"Saren's gone," Anderson replied, shaking his head, "Don't even bother trying to find him. But we know what he's after."

"The Conduit," John answered.

"And he's got geth scouring the traverse, looking for clues."

"We had reports of geth in the Feros System shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact. There have also been sightings around Noveria," Udina revealed.

"Find out what Saren was after on Noveria and Feros," Anderson ordered, the Shepards nodding, "may be you two can figure out where the Conduit is before he does."

"We also have one more lead," the Ambassador added, "Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the quarian's recording," he clarified, causing a simultaneous twitch from the Spectre siblings as they mentally corrected the Ambassador, "She has a daughter whose a scientist, specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she's involved, but it might be a good idea to try and find her, see what she knows. "

"Understood Sir," John began before Emily finished, "Do we have a name?"

"Dr. Liara T'Soni," he replied, nodding, "We have reports saying that she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau Cluster.

"You should probably find her before Saren does," Anderson suggested, "In case he hasn't already thought of using her."

"Yes Sir," the siblings replied in tandem, heads bobbing in time with each other.

Shaking his head Anderson replied, "It is your decision now, you're both Spectres. You don't have to answer to me or anyone else now."

"Save the Council," Udina corrected.

"Yes, except for the council," he agreed, nodding.

"And you actions will reflect humanity as a whole," said the Ambassador, "So if you two make a mess _I_ get stuck mopping it up."

"We promised to do whatever it takes to stop Saren," Emily reminded him.

"That's not the answer I was hoping for Commander, remember, you both were humans long before you were Spectres, if only just," he replied, speaking the last part under his breath before sighing; "I have a meeting to get to now, so I'll leave the rest of their questions to you," Udina directed at the Captain who nodded.

The Ambassador strode of without waiting for any reply.

_Good riddance_, John thought sternly, _if only 'just'… Jesus Christ_.

"Do either of you have any questions?"

The siblings looked at each other, eyes scanning each other briefly before they spoke in unison, "Negatory."

"Alright then, before you ride off, I have one final thing to say to each of you," Anderson declared, he cleared his throat and turned to the redhead, "Emily, John."

"Yessir?"

"Captain?"

He clasped his hands behind his back and smiled, "You both've certainly come a long way from Tenth Street, and I just wanted to say that it was an honor serving with you two," he stated proudly before standing at attention and giving them an executive's salute.

John and his sister returned respects, each grinning broadly until Anderson dropped to ease.

"Goodbye Shepards, and good luck," he finished; he paused long enough to give a nod to the assembled squad and then headed for the elevator.

The Spectre Commanders watched him until the lift carried him from view and then John turned to his sister, causing her to turn her head.

He waited until he had her attention and then promptly soft punch to her gut, knocking the air from her lungs and stated calmly, "That was for worrying me."

Emily nodded as she clutched her stomach, trying to force her body to breathe again and flipped him her favorite digit; after straightening up again she coughed, "_You cunt_."

"Flatter won't get you into my pants Sis. Now, let's get on my ship."

"You mean our ship."

"Of course dear sister," John replied grinning, striking heroic pose and shoving his index finger into his sibling's face, "You can be my Executive Commanding Officer."

"Like hell I'ma be your XO Johnny," the redhead retorted, twisting her brother's arm bioticaly and causing him to yelp, "How about we talk turkey until we both end up with a decent pigeon?"

"Good idea, now release the arm," he replied warily.

Emily grinned and released her brother; "Anderson'll always be the Normandy's Captain. So, we'll both be her Commanders and we can make Garrus our XO."

"And Kaidan will do the paperwork," John added, smiling.

Nodding Emily spat in her hand as her brother followed suit.

"Deal," they said simultaneously as they shook on the deed.

They broke apart and Emily gestured for their crew to follow them on board.

"Something tells me that this'll be interesting," offered the turian quietly in response.

"Perilous adventures usually are," the quarian replied, grinning beneath her helmet as she followed the Shepard siblings, the C-Sec officer quickly following suit, Wrex toddling on close after.

Giving the L-T a small shove Ashley said recklessly, "Come on Alanko, no sense in getting left behind is there?" she asked rhetorically, pulling him along behind her.

The all mushed together in the decontamination chamber, a few of them twitching or receiving shivers along their necks as the sonic field passed over them.

Once clear, they filed into the Normandy under her new masters for the first time; leaving the original crew feeling quite surreal.

"Commanders?" the gunnery asked once they were safe inside.

"Yes Williams?" replied John.

"Permission to carry on previous duties?"

"Granted," he replied nodding as the Gunnery sighed in relief before walking off.

"Sir Ma'am, I'll be in the Mess if you need me," the Lieutenant declared, saluting.

"Don't eat us out of stock Alanko," Emily teased, "We haven't gotten our supplies in yet. Dismissed."

"Yes Ma'am," he replied sheepishly before walking off.

Turning her attention to the rest of the crew the red head nodded, "I trust you three will be fine while John and I have a chat with our pilot?"

"I'd like to see somewhere with higher ceilings for starters," Wrex grumbled, slumping slightly to refrain from scarping anything.

"Try the cargo hold, down the stairs or down the elevator."

The krogan nodded and stalked off as Garrus asked, "Got anywhere I can do some calibrations?"

"There's a spot near the mako in the cargo hold that you're welcome too."

"Thanks commander," he replied before taking his leave.

"And Tali? Is there anything you need?"

"Well," the quarian began hesitantly, "I would rather liked to get acquainted with the ship if that is permissible Ms Commander."

"Try chatting with the head Engineer, Lieutenant Adams he's-"

"In the Cargo hold?" Tali ventured, teasing.

"The garage," Emily relented, grinning, "But you get to it through the Hold…"

"Thank you Commander."

"Anytime Tali," the red head replied.

As the quarian walked off the violet eyed woman turned to her brother, smirking as she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "She's my favorite."

John chuckled, throwing an arm around her before replying, "Most girls want ponies and princes. You want starships and techies. Figures."

Poking him she replied, "At least I don't fawn over Gunneries."

"What?"

"Don't think I didn't see you Mr," Emily taunted, wagging her finger, "You were eyeing her on Prime."

He thrust her head away, ruffling her hair, "Don't be crazy on me now Red," he chuckled, "That reminds me. What did you do?"

"I made a labrat piss himself, gave a man one of Ashley's dead friends back, helped an elcor diplomat, told a turian general to stuff it and got my mind freaked out by an asari Consort who gave me ancient relic and told me about my future."

Blinking slowly John crossed his arms and rubbed his chin before responding, "_Kaaaay_."

"She said I have skin like a thresher maw and that who I am won't be who I will be. …Eventually."

"That's cryptic."

"Stop being facetious," Emily replied, smacking his arm, "She did this weird thing and her eyes went black and my head felt funny-"

"_What_ happened exactly?"

"It doesn't matter," the red head replied, shaking her head, "Anyway, I had another vision and she made it… Sleep. I think. For now anyway."

"And you saw her in the first place _because_?"

"The elcor, the General, and the data pad. Speaking of which I think Williams has that."

"Well good, it's nice to know in the midst of chaos that we have an elcor's data pad. Perfect," he replied groaning, shaking his head.

"You're just jealous that I got to talk to scantily clad asari."

"I saw plenty of those today I'll have _you_ know," he replied sharply, eyes sparkling.

"Oh? Pray tell me my dear brother, what did _you _do today?"

"After picking up supplies we ran into a reporter, nice girl too. Weird fashion sense," he recalled, rubbing the back of his neck, "She wanted intel on some ring of corruption so I gave her Fist's data stick. –the one I took from his desk. Turned out to be more then she'd hoped for and she was able to uncover a whole slew of things from what the report on the elevator said."

"Never trust the elevators Johnny," she warned, her brother nodding.

"Anyway after that I offered her an interview with us, seeing how you love to talk and she was the first reporter not to ream into accusations and that other crap people are spreading about us these days."

"That'll be fun," Emily replied, perking up.

"Had a hunch you'd agree. Anyway, let's get to Joker and scrounge up some grub, I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday."

The red head nodded as they turned to make their way to the helmsman.

"Heard about what happened to Captain Anderson," said the pilot as the siblings approached him, not turning around, "the man survives hundreds of battles then gets taken down by backroom politics. Sickening."

"That's why one should never get involved with the stuff," Emily replied.

"Just watch your back Red, John," he added, "if things go bad you two are next on the chopping block."

"Saren's out there somewhere," John began, "and we'll find him," the red head finished.

Joker nodded, "Everyone one this ship is a hundred percent behind you both Commanders. If either of you want to say something before I put her into orbit, the intercom's open."

"Go ahead Em," John insisted, giving his sister a nudge, "I'm no good at the whole motivational speeches thing."

"If you were people wouldn't be able to tell us apart my dear brother," the red Spectre chuckled; "Alright Joker, turn it on."

"Yes Ma'am," he replied, flicking on the switch.

Taking in a deep breath she looked at her brother and she began, "This is Commander Shepard speaking, the better one," she teased, pausing briefly to wink at her brother before seriously continuing, "We have our orders: Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to any of you, this mission isn't going to be easy," she stated, her voice beginning to fill with fire, "For too long humanity has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! We're going to show 'em what we're made of! Our enemy knows we're coming," she admitted, her voice and resolve refusing to waiver, "When we go into the Traverse Saren's followers _will _be waiting for us. –But _we'll_ be ready too," the red head declared, earning a nod from her brother, "Humanity _needs_ to do this, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other Species in Citadel Space. Saren must be _stopped_," she continued, "and my brother and I promise you all that we _will _stop him, that we _will_ find this conduit, and that whatever Saren's planning will _not_ happen."

"And if it does," John added, "we'll just stop that too," he smirked.

"Well said Commanders," Joker replied as he cut the connection, "The Captain would be proud. He always loved a good speech."

"And that was nothing like a good speech," John taunted before laughing, earning a few chuckles from the pilot.

"All right, laugh it up you two, I did my best…"

"Ah, it's all good Sis, you did great."

"Thanks, for the Captain's sake I hope we can pull this off."

"We won't know until you try Ma'am," Joker replied grinning, "Now, where to?"

* * *

><p><strong>Well there you go, the Shepard's are finally beginning their adventure. <strong>

**I originally had planned for Kaidan to go in Emily's group so that way when she was all meldy-feldy with the Consort kaidan'd be all like "Johnny is going to kill me... ಠ_ಠ;;;"**

** but I couldn't make that happen. my second thought was to have John actually there, but that didn't work either. So i gave you my third try, and i think it's the charm. **

**note on the Consort, that wasn't a sexual meld, she had only intended to skim Emily's middlish thoughts to figure out her way of thinking. if you know how someone thinks, thus acts and reacts, it is possible to predict valid outcomes for them, which is technically what Emily asked for. **

**unfortunately for emily, her mind and sense of "self" perceived the consort's presence as a foreign entity and banking on past experience, forced Emily to relive the images of the Reapers and her past again as the beacon had been foreign to her 'self' and forced her to see the images in the first place, thus pretty much reprogramming the behavior ergo the Consort turning it on. **

**(This sets things up for later with liara, as i'm sure you've already guessed) **

**when that happened the consort immediately tried to suppress the visions, but that didn't work, and so she 'fed' emily's self new images that were far less traumatic to bring Emily back normal; this was actually harder to do then it sounds as the red head's... i want to say recklessness...madness maybe? ...anyway. the consort was lucky because the simple images were enough to redirect emily's attention.**

**She went weird afterwords partially because of the ophanis method and partially because she _just had someone messing around in her brain. _and not in the fun way. **

**and if john had been there things wouldn't have happened well. they would have ended badly. which by definition is the opposite of goodly ending. just so you know.**

**tl;dr the part with the consort was necessary and so was her brother's absence during the scene. **

**Emily, emily, emily, it's always about the red headed sister isn't it?**

**well, at the moment, she only thinks about her want's and john only thinks about her. ****that's how they've but will that always be? ****I guess we'll just have to wait and see dear readers. **

**Comments concerns & reviews are welcome!**

**P.S. when reading this, does anyone read in the character's voices? Cause i totally hear them in when I write it/glance over it. Just wondering. **


	7. Chapter 7

**God, do any of you guys know how hard it is to write for Kaidan? I'm sincerely sorry for anyone who loves the guy, but whenever I think about him I just hear one of his many **_**Huhs**_**. *shivers***

**In any case. Now that we're all off the Citadel (for now?) all the fun shit can happen!**

**In which we jump past the thresher maws, rescue the blue skinned damsel in distress, and send the red haired Commander into the hospital!**

* * *

><p>"The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back."<br>― Abigail Van Buren

* * *

><p>"Is this a private party or can anyone join?"<p>

Startled, the Lieutenant choked on his coffee and his eyes bulged; he swallowed and attempted to regain his composure before nodding and replied hastily, "Of course Commander."

John sat down, his tray plopping against the metal of the table; wistfully he thought of the old wooden slab that the Reds had stashed in their base; true, he knew the metal ones cut down on shrapnel, but the wooden ones seemed more alive than the sterilized steel. He shoveled a healthy dose of the gruel like substance on his tray into his mouth and swallowed, eyeing the L-T as he did so.

"Relax Lieutenant," he ordered, his mouth still containing food particles, "I'm not gonna shoot'cha for Pete's sakes, I'm _eating_."

Kaidan made an effort to relax and picked restlessly at his cold spaghetti-like dish. Silently half of his mind wondered how the blue eyed man was able to eat the sludge that the Alliance passed off as food without so much as wincing. The other half was in near turmoil. He toyed with his own food for a few moments more before sucking in a deep breath, drawing the Commander's attention away from his tray, and voicing a regulatory inquiry.

"Permission to speak Shepard."

"Off the record?"

Kaiden nodded, his face still stone grim.

"Granted. Shoot," he replied, directing with his slightly bent fork. Normally he wouldn't have allowed the conversation to be started, but at the table he felt that things were different. You talked at the table, you shot in the battlefield. Life was simpler that way.

"I utterly apologize for my behavior Commander," he declared, "An-"

"-Cannit Kaidan. Like I said, I'm not going to shoot you. Hell, I don't even know what you're so goddamn worried about anyway. Eat that before it gets cold," he ordered, gesturing to Alanko's tray with his fork.

The Lieutenant drew back, surprised; he stayed quiet for a moment before asking, "Sir? I… I was rather under the impression I had failed you… what with Eden Prime and then everything on the Citadel…" Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck absently as he watched the Spectre consume more of the unidentifiable grey substance.

After swallowing another bite John ran his tongue across his teeth and propped his elbows on the table, he lent in and replied, "You assumed correctly then Lieutenant."

The man nodded somberly and resumed his self appointed task of poking his food around, the meal suddenly looking far less appetizing then it been moments ago; and _that_ was saying something.

"I'll do better Sir, I'll swear my badge on it."

"I know you're a good soldier," John sighed, "you wouldn't still be on this ship if that were the issue," he replied before taking a liberal swig of coffee to wash out the other taste.

"So what_ is_ the issue Sir?" he asked in genuine concern.

"You put my sister in danger Lieutenant. Stop that from happening again, then I'll be as fucking jovial as you please. Are we clear?"

"Yes Sir," he replied, nodding. Then, hesitantly, he proceeded to ask, "If I may, where is she by the way?" he asked, eyeing the near empty canteen, "I mean, you two are pretty much inseparable."

"Red's sleeping. There's only the one bed in the Captain's quarters and she's had quite the time these last few days so I ordered her to make use of it," the Spectre replied before shoveling the last of the meal into his mouth, "Fucking thresher maws..." he muttered under his breath; he didn't add that he had partially hoped the rest would help with the redhead's headaches, he would not allow her to be seen as _week_.

"Speaking of threshers, it's a good thing Mr. Vakarian was able to calibrate the Mako's cannon or else we'd have all been toast."

"Yeah, remind me to give him a fuckin medal or something," he replied loosely, taking another swig of coffee, "And Emily said to call him Garrus," he added as an afterthought, the L-T nodding.

Kaidan was silent for a few moments, thinking, before he cocked his head and asked, "If she sleeps in the Captain's Quarters, where do you sleep Shepard?"

"What is this? Twenty questions?" John gruffed.

"Sorry sir," Lieutenant Alanko replied swiftly.

"Stop all your damn apologizing Lieutenant. One more 'sorry' outta you and I'm court marshalling your ass."

"Duly noted Commander."

"Good. Now finish your damn spaghetti."

"Yessir," he answered, feeling far more confident then he had been in the last few days.

John sniffed in a large breath and swept up his tray as he took leave of the L-T. He marched over to the canteen deepsink and placed the dirtied dishes into the sonic dishwasher and ran his fingers through his stubbly beard. Absently, he reminded himself to trim it.

"Joker," he barked, well aware that the pilot would be listening; the tell-tale ping of the com flickering on only confirmed his suspicions.

"Yessir?"

"ETA?"

"Another hour and a half to Therum Commander."

"Just make sure this planet is the one with the scientist and not another goddamn thresher maw."

"Sure thing Shepard, Joker out."

John nodded, despite knowing the pilot couldn't see the action and idly wondered how he should spend the short period of free time as he walked out of the canteen. _Emily would probably want to suit up and get the ground team sorted out,_ he thought to himself as he sidestepped a serviceman who drew a brief salute before scuttling on. _I wonder if she's feeling better…_ The _last_ thing he needed after all, was for his sister was to have another fit, _especially_ on the battlefield. She had seemed fine since leaving the Citadel, but quick glances when she thought he wasn't looking told him she hadn't been faring too well, especially when they had faced the thresher the day prior. Her smiles had been a fraction reluctant and her eyes had been darker; _maybe the rest will have done her some good_, he thought, _at least it'll have given her time to clear her head_.

He nodded to himself and headed over to the Captain's Quarters which he and his sister technically shared; Emily claimed the bed while he kept mostly to the desk and terminal and they kept most of their things in their assigned lockers. When John stepped inside he found the redhead sitting up while absently fingering her dogtags with a detached look in her violet eyes. Catching notice of him, she threw her brother a grin as the door slid shut but returned her gaze to the tangled sheets, her fingers gently stroking the metal in a repetitious circular fashion.

"Sleep well?" he asked as he leaned against the wall, arms crossing over his chest.

Emily groaned and flopped over, her response muffled by the bed. John snorted in response and the red head gave him an eloquent _fuck you_ by way of middle finger, causing the blue Spectre to chuckle.

"Well come on Red," he said before walking over to her to ruffle her hair, "We got planets to plunder and scientists to find. We're getting there in a bit."

Emily sighed, her shoulders sagging and she lifted herself up with another moan; "Please tell me there aren't any thresher maws on this one…"

"If there are you have my permission to shoot Jeff."

Emily chuckled despite of herself and grinned, _"Joker_," she corrected.

"Don't say his name," he hissed teasingly, "He might hear you!"

"Too late" replied the pilot over the com, causing the Commanders to chuckle.

"Anyway," John continued, "We have a team to compile so get suited up and meet me at that mappy thing."

The redhead's brow raised slightly, "_Mappy _thing?" she reiterated, "That's _certainly_ the technical term my dear brother."

"Fuck off Sis."

"Not with you around," she retorted, chucking her pillow at him, "_Git_."

John, grinning, nodded and headed to the Galaxy Map. On his way there he was greeted by the Chief Gunnery.

"Willaims," he said with a slight nod.

"Sir," she replied and with a respectful nod of her own; she straightened her posture and drew a firm expression causing John to pause.

"What is it Chief?"

"Requesting permission to join the landing party Sir," she replied.

"Fine with me, but check with my sister and get suited up."

"Thanks you Sir," she replied, her face brightening.

She had turned away to get started but John halted her with a gloved hand on her shoulder, causing her face to light up with surprise.

"While you're down in the hold tell Wrex to get ready too, if we _do_ run into any more goddamn maws I want the krogan backing us up. And make sure the Mako is good to go while you're at it."

"Yessir," she replied swiftly, her surprise replaced with determined dedication.

As she left, John took the opportunity to consider his sister's earlier words on the Citadel docking station and glanced at the Gunnery with an appraising eye.

_Not bad at all really_, he discovered idly. He smirked to himself and crossed his arms as he heard the unmistakable sound of his sister's black and red suit clicking against the ship's floor.

"Lo Sis."

"Lo Brother," she chirped, "so what's the plan?"

"We, Ash, and Wrex are going down in the Mako to find the whatsername."

Emily winced slightly and replied, "That's going to be a bit of a tight fit…"

"Eeyup."

Emily nodded and looked at the Galaxy map, tracking their progress on the monitor's navigation screen, "Bout an hour till…" she ventured, eyeing the miniature representation of their ship. Momentarily, she envisioned herself spinning the tiny ship, and causing the Normandy's occupants to thrash around and topple over as the real ship matched its counterpart. She chuckled and her brother shot her a look.

"You thought about it didn't you…" he drolled, brow raised slightly.

"Like you haven't," she retorted, snorting; she stretched languidly and placed her hands on her hips and said, "Well as fun as standing here and staring at you're ugly ass is –which it isn't by the way-"

"-Bite me-"

"-I'm going to the cargo hold to make see how things are coming along," she declared.

"Yeah whatever," John replied lazily, "I'll be down later."

Emily grinned and replied, "Always keen on missing the party Johnny?" she teased, striding over to the elevator.

"Nah, just fashionably late," he retorted and Emily stuck out her tongue just before the elevator doors shut, causing him to snort. _At least she seemed to be doing better_, he thought to himself, _What an adventure this was going to be…_

John felt himself a reasonable type of man, with reasonable demands and reasonable thoughts and feelings, so when the Mako hit Therum full force, jostling the life out of its occupants he felt that his decision to light the metal beast on fire forever was a perfectly rational proposal. -Especially as _he_ had been looking forward to being the one driving it. He glared at his sister from the backseat, huffing as everyone readjusted themselves. Emily took no notice of her brother's ire, but Wrex, to John's left, found himself grinning at situation and Ashley, riding the literal shotgun position, smirked. The Mako took a few seconds to warm up to tip top shape, and then they were off, John muttering all the way.

As the blue eyed Spectre scoured the Mako's map readings Joker's voice clicked over the intercom, and Emily quickly patched him through.

"What is it Joker?" asked the red Spectre.

"Ma'am I'm picking up some strange readings, really strange. Like they're off the damn charts…"

"Where?" she asked, navigating around a boulder while simultaneously trying to avoid the stretches of lava and sets of rather nasty looking pipes.

"It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few clicks from the drop zone."

"Thanks Joker," she replied; she swerved suddenly, jerking the Mako's inhabitants and narrowly avoiding another stretch of the perilous molten substance as Joker cut the connection.

"Watch where you're fucking going!" her brother shouted angrily, clinging to the Mako's machinery to keep firmly seated.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" she retorted before dodging another obstacle with another sharp turn.

"I swear," John huffed, "If we live through this I'm going to find the man responsible for you're driving license, and I'm shooting him in the fucking face."

"Blowing you're face off won't make you any more ugly," she sing-songed happily, driving into view of a geth patrol.

"Man the missals!" she chirped, driving towards them without lowering speed.

Immediately the Chief Gunnery began firing, "_Fucking_ sh-"

"-Language Williams!" John barked.

"Sorry Cap'n," she replied, aiming to make the Mako's canon to their best advantage.

In a few rather tense moments, Emily drove the Mako over the fallen bodies of the geth and continued their way, Wrex making a sneering chuckle as the crunching of synthetic bodies snapped under their wheels.

"Only a fool punches a nathak in the mouth," Wrex began, catching site of the radar, "we should sneak around and pull its tail."

"Right," the redhead replied, instantly swerving an almost complete one-eighty, nearly making John loose his lunch, and raced up the side of the mountain rather than into what would have been a geth thriving full frontal base assault.

"_Turret_," Ashley shouted, already aligning the gun.

"Fire at will Williams!" Emily barked, using the Mako's 'up' thrusters to avoid being hit themselves.

"I'm never letting you fucking drive again Red," John barked as the Mako continued jumping.

"Shut _up_ Johnny," she replied happily, never taking her eyes from the road ahead, "Emily's _busy_."

"Enemy turret down Ma'am," replied the Gunnery, who took a moment to readjust herself properly, having slid from her seat as the Mako bounced around like a dingo in a snakepit.

"There's more red dots on the screen here," Wrex offered happily, "Maybe an ambush."

"We'll take 'em on foot, everybody outta'the Mako," John ordered, already unbuckling his seatbelt.

Emily pouted and was about to protest, but her brother was already half way out of the Mako before she had a chance too. Reluctantly, she followed suit, the krogan and the Gunnery following after.

There was a troop of geth, scattered throughout the immediate area, hiding behind various containment boxes. Between the four of them, they made short work of the synthetics with the help of a few accidently well placed explosions. Quickly, they made their way to the Plasma Containment Cell to open the gate that was barring their way forward. Guns at the ready they crept inside. As they rounded a corner the Gunnery barked, "Rocket trooper!"

They quickly made short work of him too.

"This is getting too easy," the krogan muttered, earning a glance from the blue Spectre as his sister hit the button to open the gate.

"Alright Johnny, you wanna look around first or get on our way?"

"On our way. The sooner we finish the sooner we can end this nightmare."

"Just be thankful ol'Finchy Boy ain't driving," she replied, slinging a pistol against her shoulder and grinning.

John only shuddered in reply before the group headed back to their transport, Emily once again beating him to the driver's seat. This time however, he striped himself in tighter and ordered the others to do the same before Emily was once again deftly maneuvering around strips lava and miscellaneous patrols of geth, which Ashley gladly took care of with the Mako's canon, occasionally using the assisting guns when her preferred device overheated. Before too long the team came to a tunnel and John decided that his sister actually drove _worse_ with a clearly defined enclosed path. The profanities muttered under his breath were not lost on the red head and if possible, she purposeful put the Mako through even _harsher_ torment just to spite him.

Much to John's relief the group soon found their way blocked several large boulders, and it became clear that they would have to proceed the rest of the way on foot, so reluctantly, Emily relinquished the driver's chair yet again. As they filed out, the Chief Gunnery made a beeline to the nearest rock where her stomach divulged its contents in a rather violent manner and the woman found her extremely grateful that she always kept her hair in its regulatory bun. She wiped her lips against the back of her glove and threw the red Commander a dirty look which went unnoticed. John patted her shoulder sympathetically before jogging past the crumbling rocks.

"Looks like they got signal jammers Johnny!" Emily cried, already some feet ahead.

"Then _shoot_'em Red," he called after her, already equipped with his rifle in hand.

The four began an extreme version of hide-and-kill-seek in the rocks with the geth, the narrow passages forcing them to use their brains against the geth's out-numbering brawn. They were able to advance fairly quickly until the sniper towers decided to send them a friendly death laced greeting with a couple of rockets aimed for their faces, all while the geth's ground troops kept firing at close range.

"Wrex, Williams!" Emily barked while John continued, "You two take care of the fuckers on the ground," and his sister finished, "We'll take care of the sniper towers…"

The krogan and the gunnery nodded before taking cover and they ban picking off the enemy ranks one by one as the red head pocketed her pistols. John tossed her his backup rifle and she nodded once, _thanks_, and together they sprinted forward, ignoring the geth around them as they took their positions and began laying waste to the rocket wielding menaces inside the towers. John, downing his target first grinned as seconds later Emily nailed hers; she tossed his gun back with a grimace as he sneered in victored rivalry.

"Still the best shot in the house, eh Sis?" he taunted.

"Fuck you," she replied eloquently, ducking to avoid having her brain splattered into a million tiny pieces. She drew her pistols once more and set a barrier to provide herself some cover as she helped her teammates finish off the last of the area's geth.

Grinning, John too quickly rejoined in the fray; in a matter of moments the battle was over and Emily dropped her barrier as the siblings rose to their feet.

"Targets down," Ashley stated, jogging over to them with Wrex close behind.

"Let's get to that facility then," John began, "and let's keep our eyes peeled," his sister finished.

The blue Spectre took the lead and began the tedious ascent up the hill, Wrex and the Gunnery trailing after. With a click of her tongue Emily took the rear and kept her weapons at the ready. As they approached the entrance the redhead paused next to a large crate, her boots digging into the blood red soil beneath with a crunching sound as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. John, feeling her absence glanced around and called the others to a halt and they quickly backtracked to the red Commander.

"Something wrong Skipper?" Ashley asked, her weapon still at the ready.

"Just have the awful feeling that som-"

Before she could finish her statement a green tinted crawler landed onto the ground a few feet away from them with a loud thud, drawing their attention. Immediately, Wrex and Ashley aimed at it but before they could fire it ran up the building's wall and disappeared. Almost directly after the sound of an approaching ship began rattling their ears and shaking the ground; though the ship was hidden within the smoke and probably utilizing its stealth protocols, it lingered long enough to drop a small troop of geth and one very large and dangerous looking construct that reminded the Shepard siblings somewhat of a horse only far more deadly and far more metallic.

"Bad feeling Johnny."

"Tell me about it," he replied dryly; he shook his head and then took position behind the crate, "Emily, the creepy fuckers, Wrex, the big one, Williams, cover fire!" he barked as the team scrambled into position while narrowly avoiding the armature's attacks.

As the others held the geths' collective attention John took the few seconds allotted to rifle through his ammo compartment, determined to utilize his resources to the best of his abilities and had a fairer amount of improved success as he quickly jumped back into the fray, the bullets piercing through the synthetic's barriers with a little more ease.

As the giant geth armature inched its way forward with every blast, Emily's vision blurred and her head began to throb mercilessly, causing her to lose her mark on the ghost geth. Sinking to her knees to avoid getting shot, the red Commander unintentionally closed her eyes, as if to seal herself away from the sudden onslaught of pain. Unfortunately, it only traded the real world for the beacon's vision as she then became bombarded with images of genocide and her past, still as jumbled together as the first time it had happened.

Wrex heard the faint feminine gasp and looked to his right, only to find the red Shepard down for the count. He cursed and fired at the geth hovering on the top of her crate. It hissed and jumped clear as the krogan thundered towards her, uncaring of the giant armature preparing to fire at a very pissed off John.

Hunching over to the best that his size would allow him, he hooked his arm around the Commander's middle and lugged her onto her feet and began half dragging her out of the fire zone. By this time, Ashley noticed the lack of the krogan's firepower, and when she caught sight of him hoisting the redhead to safety she rushed after them, picking off the geth that got to close, leaving John to continue keeping the armature's attention.

Wrex dropped the redhead behind one of the many poles hoisting up the building, and the Gunnery knelt beside her. Emily's face was drenched in pain, her teeth bared and snarling, and her hands clenched desperately at her ears. Ashley tried to keep the Spectre from thrashing about as best she could but had to keep a certain amount of distance away from the woman to keep from getting lashed out at.

"Skipper," she called, shaking the redhead, "C'mon, snap to!"

Wrex pulled up to full height, his face darkening, "She has left this fight to wage one against her mind, she will not return until she has won."

Knowing that John still needed support the Chief Gunnery made an impromptu decision and sat a bit straighter, "Go help the Commander, I got her."

Wrex nodded once with a huff and trudged back into the line of fire alongside the blue Commander, bringing him up to speed as he did so.

_Of all the times to have a mood…_ he thought silently, teeth clenched, _By god_, he hated that beacon.

With their combined efforts the armature eventually met its sudden but inevitable demise. Grinning, Wrex shouldered his weapon as John muttered his thanks. His own face grew grim however as he remembered his sister.

_Fuck._

He dashed over to his counterpart, the krogan mercenary following close behind, his eyes still scanning for more geth. John knelt beside his sister and the Gunnery as Wrex moved to stand guard.

"How long has she been like this?"

"I found her earlier in the battle," Wrex offered gruffly.

"I've been trying to snap her out of it Sir but she won't come to," said the Gunnery; as John moved closer she respectfully backed away, intending to give them as much space as needed.

He gave her a shake but she remained unresponsive to external influences, her mind completely focused on its own turmoil. John began wrestling himself internally, he couldn't send her back to the Mako, she wouldn't make it. Neither could he get her back onto the Normandy without sacrificing the mission. He _needed_ her, her and her mouth, to pry everything out of the asari scientist; but in this state dragging her along would be an unnecessary risk, and they couldn't just _wait_ for her to snap out of it… and he refused to even _consider_ the Ophanis method as anything but a final option…

Suddenly, an idea came to him that both raised his hopes and twisted his stomach into knots. It was a long shot, but if it worked he would be willing to live with the consequences. He grabbed his sisters hands and fired up his biotics, bathing them both in blue and it was enough to slowly trigger the redhead's fields as well.

As parts her brain began responding to the biotic fields, the rest of her brain snapped back to reality like a broken rubber band, causing Emily to cry out at the backlash while her biotics burnt out. She shuddered and gasped desperately for air as John held her still, turning off his own felids.

"Em, you ok?"

"Y-yeah, j-just fine Johnny," she replied, her voice struggling to steady itself.

"When we get back to the ship the good Doc's gonna take a look at you. We need to find a way to shut these visions off…"

"Y-Yeah," replied, still feeling a bit fuzzy, "Whatever you say Johnny…"

"And you're grounded."

"Fuck you Johnny," she spat with a smile, her heartbeat evening out enough to let her breath normally.

"Glad to have you back Commander," said the Gunnery, also smiling.

Wrex huffed, but there was a trace of agreement at the corners of his lips.

John hoisted his sister to her feet and the redhead dusted herself off before reaching for her pistols, only to find them gone.

At her confusion Ashley winced slightly and offered, "Sorry Skipper, but they kinda got trashed alongside that container after Wrex tossed you over here…"

Emily sighed despondently, her hands clenched and nodded, "Guess I'll just work with what I've got then…"

"Don't worry Red," John quickly replied, "I'll get you new ones."

Emily shook her head, "They wouldn't be the same. Now c'mon, we've wasted enough time already and I want to kill something."

Agreeing with the argument, the team made its way up the ramp and into the facility that they hoped would bring Saren one step closer to the swift sword of justice. The entrance opened up into a descending poorly lit passage, and John took the lead.

"Two chits says the place is crawling with geth," the Gunnery offered.

"No gambling on mission time," John replied sternly, then, as an afterthought he added, "Besides, they're probably be a bunch of other crap too. Maybe krogans," he said brightening.

"Or thresher maws!" Emily added happily.

"Oh my," said Ashley as the passageway ended in geth opening fire.

Emily blasted them back with her biotics before the others shot them, either still in midair or once they had crashed. They then rushed along the ramps, dodging bullets while firing their own, reminding John of a rather nasty rendition of a bootcamp training exercise involving specialized guns and paint. When the parameter was secure they loaded themselves onto the elevator and jostled each other to attain the proper amount of personal space.

Ashley, by the rail, looked over the side and grinned, turning to Emily she said, "Dare you to spit over the side."

Her face lighting up the red Spectre immediately lunged for the edge of the elevator as her brother hit the button. Wrex caught her midleap and the redhead let out an _oouf_ as the wind briefly left her lungs, the krogan chuckling slightly at the woman's reckless behavior while the Gunnery continued to grin.

"_Real_ mature ladies," John replied sarcastically.

"Damn straight Johnny," Emily retorted, grinning.

When the elevator grinded to a halt, they stepped into the scopes of a couple geth assault drones. Instantly the Shepards sank to one knee as they shot at the synthetics, John with bullets, and Emily with biotics. _The drones hadn't stood a chance_, the group silently thought. after the last drone went down they discovered that their only choice of option was to ride another elevator, and this time, Emily raced ahead so that _she_ could push the button once they all piled in. At first all seemed well, and the Gunnery was about to make a joking involving combat and elevators, when the gears started hissing and sparks flared, making the three humans jump before the elevator began careening towards the scene of the crash that John was certain awaited them.

"Brace yourselves!" he barked, he and Ashley grabbing the rails, Emily grabbing the krogan in the middle of the floor.

Just when they thought the elevator was going to crash it grinded to a halt.

Slowly, the humans collected their composures and caught their breaths while Wrex slid out of the elevator.

"Humans," he grunted, in both annoyance and amusement.

The others quickly followed him and found the ramps in completely disarray and anarchy, leaving them to jump and tumble their ways around. When Emily landed from such a jump, rolling onto all fours to absorb the shock, she heard a voice from her left.

"Uh… hello?"

Emily turned to see a large blue wall that reminded her of a large biotic field. _It's kinda pretty_, she thought.

"Could somebody help me? Please?"

The Shepard turned her attention to the young woman's voice and noticed its owner was an asari, floating spread-eagle in what looked like a giant glowing blue bubble inside of the biotic looking wall. She was dressed in what looked like a green doctor's uniform and she looked both tired and dehydrated, though Emily was no expert on asari physiology.

"_Johnnnnny_!" she yelled over her shoulder, "I think I found her!"

She waited a few moments, listening to her brother's profanities as he made his way over to them and then turned her attention back to the damsel in distress.

"Can you hear me out there?" she asked desperately as John took his place beside his sister, "I'm trapped, I need help!"

"Doctor Liara T'Soni I presume," said the blue Commander as he folded his arms over his chest, tilting his head and raising a brow; Ashley and Wrex arrived silently and stood on either sides of the Spectre siblings.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out," Emily replied to the woman.

"Oh thank the Goddess," she sighed with relief, "I did not think anyone would come looking for me. Listen," she began hesitantly, "This thing I'm in is a Prothean security device, I cannot move so I need you all to get me out of it. All right?" she asked hopefully, fearful of being left in suspension for the rest of her centuries long lifespan.

John looked at Emily, who replied with a slight pout. He sighed and she grinned before he tossed her a glare. She nodded somberly and John asked, "Your mother is working for Saren. Whose side are you on?"

Surprised, the young asari replied, "What! I am not on anybody's side!" she cried indignantly before continuing softly, "I may be Benezia's daughter but I am nothing like her," reluctantly, she added, "I have not spoken to her in many years, please… just let me out of here!" she cried.

John looked at his sister again, who arched her brow and shot him a look of her own. He tilted his head slightly and the redhead scoffed, crossing her arms before he asked the asari, "How'd you get in there in the first place?"

Bashfully, Liara replied, "I was exploring the ruins when the geth showed up so I hid in here. Can you believe that?" she demanded, "geth beyond the veil!"

"I wouldn't have guessed it," Wrex muttered as the Gunnery tried to conceal her smile.

Continuing on the asari explained further, "I activated the Tower's defensives, I knew the barrier curtain would keep them out," she divulged as a small blush graced her cheeks, "I… um, must of hit something I wasn't supposed to," she admitted, "I was trapped in here. You _must_ get me out! _Please_," she begged.

John looked at his sister again and she elbowed him in the gut before he could ask anything further; "We'll get you out," she assured the scientist.

Liara sighed in relief once more and offered, "There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing. Only… you'll have to find some way past the barrier curtain."

Emily nodded for her to continue.

"That's the tricky part, the defenses cannot be shut off from the outside, I do not know _how_ you'll get in here…"

"Don't worry, we'll get the job done," John offered stiffly, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.

"Be careful," the young woman pleaded, "There is krogan with the geth and they have been trying different ways to get past the barrier."

"Krogan," John replied grinning, "I win."

"Just wait till a damn thresher pops out of nowhere and _then_ we'll see whose grinning Johnny," Emily replied, "Don't worry Ms T'Soni, we'll be back shortly," she cast over her shoulder as the group set out once more.

When they were out of the asari's earshot John nudged the redhead and she cast him a questioning look.

"You think she's good?"

"She doesn't have a bad bone in her body Johnny," she replied with a shake of her head, "She wouldn't be able to lie if her life depended on it."

"We taking her on our side then?"

"Only if she follows us home," she replied, grinning as a geth trooper and a krogan merc came into view.

They fired from the ramp, taking cover behind the caver's natural wall as the enemy hid behind biotic barriers.

"What's that thing over there?" Emily asked, noting the metal device in the corner as she took out a trooper.

"Gee Red," John huffed, "Why don't you just jump down there and find out?" replied as he continued shooting at the enemy krogan.

"Alright," she agreed, causing John to nearly misfire, "Cover me!" she ordered as she hopped over the rail and landed on the cavern floor some twenty feet below.

"Damnit," he cursed as his sister raced towards the mystery machine.

"You did tell you too Cap'n," Ashley replied, picking off a drone.

"Williams?"

"Yes Commander?"

"Shut it."

"Yes Commander."

As they continued shooting from above Emily arrived at the device and ignored the few remaining geth aiming in her direction as swept her omnitool over it. Glancing over the readout, she determined that the machine controlled some sort of laser with an override access protocol.

_Damsel…_ she thought, _Lasers… Sounds good to me,_ she thought as a grin spread across her face.

Her fingers quickly opened up the service panel of the device and began plucking and rearranging the wires as if it was a stolen car. In a few seconds the machine booted up and the screen flickered on.

_**Code required. Please insert correct activation code. Code required-**_

"Emily, what did you find?" her brother called from afar.

"Hold on!" she shouted as she punch in random bits of sequences; it was at times like these she wished she had gone farther in tech training. _No matter_, she thought, _anything can be decrypted with enough-_

_**Activation sequence, initializing. Please stand back and have a nice day. **_

"Johnny! Brace yourself!" Emily called as the laser blasted into action; the force of the blast knocking the Spectre and the mercenary into the railing and Ashley into the wall.

The laser blasted a large hole into the bedrock floor, and when the smoke cleared the redhead meandered over to investigate it as the rest of the team slowly followed suit.

"I fucking hate you Red," sighed the blue Commander as he joined her in the rubble.

"I warned you," she replied, shrugging.

John sneered but neglected further comment as the hole opened up into a blue room resembling the one that asari was trapped in above. It had no back wall, but released onto a small platform with a green glowing tech riddled lever.

"Na-uh," John tsked as the redhead reached for it, "_I'm _going to do it," he said, hitting jerking the rod upwards, "I've had enough explosions for one day."

"Fuck you Jonny," Emily replied dryly, crossing her arms as the platform began to rise.

John flicked the lever again when they were high enough and it halted to a stop, the trapped asari in clear view.

When she heard their boots hitting the tiled floors Liara craned her head around as much as she was able and said, "How… How did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier!"

"Where there's a will there's a way," John replied dryly.

"We blasted through with a giant laser that was lying around," Emily added with a smirk.

"Of course, that makes sense," the asari replied agreeing, "Please… get me out of here before more geth arrive…"

"How?" asked the redhead.

"There's a button over there on that console that should shut down this containment field," she replied weakly.

The Shepard siblings looked at each other and John raised a brow before shrugging. Still grinning the redhead walked over to the aforementioned console and waved her hand across the green lights, prompting the device to open and reveal a small acid colored button that Emily was going to assume was the right one to push. She did so and with an _oouf _the asari dropped to the floor.

As she slowly rose to her feet, dusting herself off Wrex turned to look past the Gunnery as the redhead stood next to her brother, "Any idea how to get out of this place?"

"There's an elevator back in the centre of the tower," Liara offered, "At least, I think it's an elevator," she corrected, "It should take us out of here, come on!"

"Should we trust the blue lady Red?" John whispered skeptically as the asari headed to the platform.

"Beats staying here Johnny," she replied before trodding after the young woman.

As they took their places the woman seemed to slump, her shoulders sagging slightly as her big blue eyes grew wary.

"Something troubling you Ms T'Soni?" the red Spectre inquired.

"I… Truthfully I still cannot believe all this," she admitted, turning to face the redhead, "Why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?"

"Saren's looking for the Conduit," Ashley replied dryly, hand on her hip, "Think fast Ms Prothean expert."

"Manners Williams," Emily reminded, the Gunnery huffing in reply.

"The Conduit?" Liara said confused, shaking her head slightly, "But I don't know-"

She was cut off by the world shaking slightly; the group looked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary to pin the cause.

"What the _hell _was that?" spat the Gunnery as sounds of crumbling rocks filled their ears.

"These ruins are not stable," Liara replied, still surveying, "That mining laser must have triggered a seismic event…"

"Nice going Red," John spat, giving his sister a small shove.

"Fuck off John," she replied harshly.

"Please, we have to hurry. The whole place is caving in!" Liara declared before heading over to the platform's console.

"Joker," Emily cried, hitting her earpiece, "get the Normandy airborne and lock on our signals on the double mister or I swear I'm going to break every bone in your body if we die in here!"

"Aye aye Commander, secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes."

"That's gonna be close Skipper," Ashley replied.

"Don't worry Williams, we'll make it," John replied firmly, "Eight minutes? Piece of cake."

"If we die in here I'll kill him," Wrex huffed.

"Maybe it's not Joker you should be worrying about," Emily replied, pointing behind him, "We got trouble."

The group turned to see a krogan flanked by geth troopers and John held his hand in front of the team; they would wait and see.

"Surrender," the krogan ordered, "Or don't. That would be more fun."

"We don't have time for talking Johnny, let's kill the bastard," ordered the redhead, "Charge!"

"Heh, I like your attitude," the Battlemaster replied before opening fire.

John, Wrex, and the Gunnery instantly took up arms as Emily charged up, her biotics ready should bullets fail.

The geth came down easily, but the more the enemy Battlemaster was hit the angrier he seemed to become until bloodrage overtook him and he charged with spine-chilling roar.

John cursed and knocked into Ashley, rolling her out of the way as the krogan barreled past the spot she had been moments before. There was a split second where they looked at each other in shock before John hoisted himself up and turned, the gunnery quickly following suit as she took aim on the Battlemaster once more.

"Emily! Watch out!" John cried as the redhead stepped in front of the asari, blocking the krogan's path.

She held her completely still until she felt the wind rushing off of him and snapped forward, pushing him back with spectacular warping blast as she let loose a roar of her own.

The krogan hit the far wall and Emily remained motionless for a moment, panting slightly before she wiped her brow with a cheeky grin.

The group took no time to celebrate however as the planet began shaking fiercely; they raced off of the platform and onto a familiar set of ramps that were currently doing their best interpretive dance impressions as the judgmental cavern attempted to crush their performances out of existence. The group dodged rocks swaying railings, ducked under caving ceilings and jumped over the widening gaps.

Emily fought back panic as the falling rocks began triggering the memories from the beacon. She bit her lip until a fine coppery taste coated her mouth and continued running; _she would _not_ fall _again_. _

John paused and looked back to watch the Prothean ruin becoming little more than unidentifiable rubble before his darkening blue eyes. Seeing the asari stumbling in the back of the group he grit his teeth and shouted at his sister. Emily, drawn out of her reverie and catching the tone in his voice, turned and grabbed the young woman by her arm and hauled her forcefully until they had caught back up with the others.

"Move, move, move!" John bellowed, taking up the rear as his sister continued pushing herself and the asari forward, Emily still struggling to focus properly.

They raced up through the tunnel they had entered through, cursing the precious time need to fight gravity as they raced upwards, the air thick with smoke and soot making it nearly impossible to see farther than their own outstretched hands.

Wrex punched the door open with his biotics, never once pausing, Ashley right behind him as Emily threw Liara forward. The redhead made it halfway onto the Normandy's loading ramp before she paused, hands on her knees as the sound of internal explosions riddled the air. She clamped her eyes closed, trying to keep the red laced images from winning out as she felt herself shoved forward.

"Come on," John shouted, "Rest when we get there," he barked, causing Emily to scramble towards the ship.

They crawled on and the Normandy's door sealed shut as the ship began taking off and Emily propped herself up on the nearest wall, the beacon's images throbbing in time to her headache. John also took a moment to regain his breath, and he glanced around at the crew, counting faces to make sure they had all come out on top.

"Look'it that Em, for once, everybody lives," he jested.

"Don't joke like that Johnny," Emily snapped quietly, one hand rubbing her temple.

Standing up strait the blue Specter replied firmly, "You should see Doctor Chakwas."

"Not until we've called a meeting," she replied, also drawing herself up to her full height.

John sighed but nodded, "Alright then," he relented; he turned to Ashley and Wrex and ordered, "Is everyone else fiveby?"

"All fine here Cap'n," the Gunnery replied.

Wrex snorted, crossing his arms, daring the Commander to question him while the asari merely nodded.

"Then I want everyone in the comm room for a mission debriefing. Dismissed," John finished.

"Comm room?" Liara asked, unsure where to go, having never been on an Alliance vessel before.

"Follow the krogan," John replied before turning back to his sister.

Emily brushed him off with a scowl and walked past him, "I'm fine Johnny," she snapped, "This way Dr. T'Soni," she ordered, pulling in front of the asari woman.

John sighed and followed suit.

When they reached the comm room, it was already filled by Ashley, Kaidan, Tali, Garrus, and Wrex. Emily pushed the asari towards the empty seat between the Quarian and the krogan mercenary before joining her brother in at the head of the room.

The Joker, opting to make his presence known, clicked on communications and said, "Too close Commanders, ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. –They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. _You know_, just for future reference," he jested.

Confused and slightly angered Liara replied, "We almost _died _out there and your pilot is making jokes?"

"Yeah he's a jerk," John replied; Emily shot him a glare and raised his hands in submission.

Turning back to the asari, Emily said gently, "It's a coping mechanism. You get used to it."

"I see," she replied, "It must be a human thing," she noted quietly, "I'm afraid I do not have a lot of experience with your species Commanders. But I am grateful to you and your crew. You saved my life back there, and not just from that volcano. Those geth would have killed me, or worse, dragged me off to Saren."

The Lieutenant, not having been on the mission, voiced his curiosity; "What would Saren want with you? Do you know something about the Conduit?"

Liara shook her head slightly and replied, "Only that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. –That is my real area of expertise," she admitted, blushing slightly with pride as she shifted in her seat, "I have spent the last fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them."

Surprised, John asked, "Just how old _are_ you exactly?" he winced and held his tongue as Emily kicked him for the question.

Taking no notice of the action Liara answered timidly, "I… hate to admit it but, I am only one hundred and six…"

"_Da_mn," Ashley replied amazed, "I hope _I_ look that good when I'm your age."

"A century may seem like a long time to such a short lived species like yours," she replied to the Gunnery, "But among the asari I am _bare_ly considered more than a _child_," she paused and sighed before returning her attention to the Commanders and continued, "That is why my research has not received the attention that it deserves. Because of my youth, other asari tend to ignore or even dismiss my theories on what happened to the Protheans."

"I've got my own theory on why they disappeared," Emily replied with a sigh of her own, "But nobody wants to hear mine either;" the redhead winced as her headache quickly transformed into a full blown migraine, but she stayed put.

"That's because yours is always accompanied by fits," John muttered sardonically, eyeing his sister's clenching fists.

Nodding once Liara replied, "With all due respect Commanders, I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them as the Protheans left precious little behind. It is almost as if someone did not want the mystery solved, like someone came along after the Protheans were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clues," she continued, "But here is the incredible part," she offered, "According to my findings the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish. This cycle began _long_ before them."

"Where's you come up with this theory, I thought you said there wasn't any evidence," Kaidan asked skeptically.

"Easy Lieutenant," John warned.

"I have been working on this for fifty years," Liara replied calmly, used to her theories being mocked, "I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence. Eventually, patterns started to emerge. Patterns that hint at the truth. …It is, _difficult_," she admitted, "explaining it to someone else. I cannot point to one specific thing to prove my case, it is… more of a _feeling_ derived from a half-century of dedicated research. But I _know _I'm right," she asserted, "And eventually I will be able to prove it. There were many civilizations before the Protheans; this cycle has repeated itself many times over."

"What cycle, what are you talking about?" asked the krogan.

"The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction. Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and quite violently cast down. Only ruins survive," she answered surly.

"And this happened to the Protheans," Garrus continued, almost questioning the statement.

"Yes," she replied, "The Protheans rose up from a single world until their empire spanned across the entire galaxy. Yet even as they climbed to the top on the remains of who came from before. Their greatest achievements, the mass relays and the Citadel, are based on the technologies of those who came before them," she revealed, "And then, like all the lost and forgotten civilizations before them, the Protheans disappeared. And I have dedicated my life to finding out why," she finished.

"Let me save you a lot of time Dr. T'Soni," Emily replied, "They were wiped out by a sentient race of machines called Reapers;" the word alone began flashing images of large destructive ships into her brain but she kept her breathing steady and ignored them.

"The- The Reapers?" she asked, "But I have never heard of-" she began before cutting herself off, "How do you know this?" she demanded, "What evidence do you have?"

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime," John answered, "And cause the L-T got a little too friendly with it…" he drolled, casting Alanko a glare.

"It burned a vision into my mind," Emily finished for her brother, "I've tried figuring out what it all means but its hard sorting everything out… It jumbles itself with everything else and it takes over," she admitted.

"Visions?" she asked.

"Yeah," Emily replied, nodding, "Images, sounds, smells… everything. The screaming though is the worst of it."

"Yes… that makes sense," Liara thought aloud, "the beacons were meant to transmit data directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is extremely rare."

"No_ wonder_ the geth attacked Eden Prime," said Garrus, earning several nods.

"The chance to acquire a working beacon, even a badly damaged one," Liara continued, "Is worth almost any risk."

"My troop risked their lives for that thing," Ashley muttered unhappily, "would have been nice to know that _before_ they were wiped out…"

"Easy Williams," Emily soothed, "We all agree their sacrifice was well honored and unforgotten."

"I'm just annoyed that Saren got whatever that message was Skipper," she replied, slouching slightly and earning a nod from John.

"The beacons were only programmed to interact with Prothean physiology," Liara audibly realized, "whatever information you and Saren received would have been confused, unclear," she looked at the redhead in wonder for a moment before continuing, "I am… _amazed_ that you were able to make any sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong–willed Ms. Commander," she said in awe.

Emily found herself smirking and replied, "You should see me when I'm after something I want," she teased, causing the asari's cheeks to color slightly.

"This isn't helping us get any closer to finding Saren," Alanko spat, "Or the conduit;" he wasn't intending to be rude but something about the blue woman had his metaphorical hackles rising.

"Manners Lieutenant," John warned.

"He is right," Liara replied, "I am sorry Commanders… My scientific curiosity got the best of me," she offered embarrassedly, dipping her head slightly, "Unfortunately, I do not possess any information that will help you catch Saren _or_ find the Conduit," she finished sadly, her facial markings drooping slightly.

"We'll just bring you along anyway then," Emily replied, rubbing her brow for a moment.

"Wha?" she squeaked, surprised.

"We don't know why Saren wanted you dead, so as far as I'm concerned that makes you aces in my book," the redhead explained.

"I'm afraid zat you really don't have much of a choice," Tali replied happily, "Commander Emily has a way of getting what she wants."

"So I see," Liara replied to the helmeted girl. The asari thought a moment and stood, making a bowing motion before saying, "Thank you Commander, if Saren were to come after me again, I can think of no place I would rather be. And maybe my knowledge of Protheans will come of use to your mission," she realized happily.

"And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts later on," Wrex added to John, having decided that he liked the girl.

"Alright then," the blue Commander said as Emily offered Liara a hand, "Welcome aboard the Normandy Ms. T'Soni."

Liara held out her own hand and the redhead shook it firmly as the asari replied, "Thank you Commander;" nodding to each sibling, "I am very greatf- whoa;" the blue woman paused swaying, her head spinning slightly as both Commanders rushed to steady the scientist, "I am afraid I am a little light headed…" she apologized.

"When was the last time you ate?" John asked, glancing the young woman over, "Or slept? Doctor Chakwas should have a look at you," he stated firmly.

"It is probably just mental exhaustion, coupled with the shock of learning the Protheans true fate," she replied, thinking aloud once more, "I probably just need some time to process all of this…" then catching the looks on each of the Shepard sibling's faces she continued, "Still, it could not hurt to be looked over by a medical professional, if nothing else it may give me some time to think things over. …Are we… _dismissed_ Commanders?" she asked, unsure she was using the correct term.

"Emily will take you to the Doctor," John instructed, earning a look from the redhead, "Seems how she was going there anyways. The rest of you are dismissed," he ordered, and the room's occupants stood up and readied to leave.

"Mission reports filed Commanders," Joker stated over the intercom, "You want me to patch you through to the council?"

"Not until I'm here for it Joker," Emily replied, "I'll be right back, ten minutes tops."

"Sure thing Red," the pilot replied.

"Thanks Jeff."

"Anytime, just call when you need me," he finished, clicking off.

John placed his hand on the redhead's shoulder and gave it a slight shake before stepping aside; Emily turned to the asari tilted her head in a _follow me_ motion. They walked silently side by side for a few moments until the redhead noticed the other woman's demeanor.

"You okay?"

"In truth I am… not sure how I am exactly. I have spent fifty years of my life searching for the answers you may have received from the beacon. It is… unsettling," she admitted before jerking slightly, "Oh, I did not mean to offend or imply that I am not grateful! I-I'm sorry Commander, I really don't converse well..."

"It's alright," Emily chuckled, "I know I'd be _pissed_ if I walked into someone who was holding everything I wanted to know, and Johnny would probably just shoot the bastard."

The asari's bright blue eyes widened slightly; "Oh? Yes… Johnny, the other Commander."

"His name's John, John Shepard, but I get to call him whatever the hell I want," the redhead chuckled.

"Then he is… your mate?" she ventured hesitantly.

The Spectre choked slightly, startled, and made a face before shivering slightly; "Oh god no," she replied, Liara blushing slightly, "He's my brother," she hastily corrected.

"Oh, I see. Please forgive me Ms Shepard, I did not mean to presume."

Emily waved her off, "It's alright, we used to get that a lot in Base but after everything on Torfan I just kinda forgot there's some people who actually _don't_ know who we are."

"Torfan?"

Emily's face darkened and she swallowed as the warmth drained from her face, "It's not a pretty story."

"I am sorry," Liara replied, unsure of what else she could say.

Fortunately, she was saved the trouble as they stopped in front of the med-clinic. When the door slid open they were greeted by the good Doctor and Emily's face lit up again, smirk firmly in place.

"Lo again Doctor," Emily sing-songed.

"Hello once again Commander," she replied, "I see you've brought a friend."

"Seems there's something wrong with us Doc, and Johnny said that you're just the fine upstanding sort of lady who can fix us."

The doctor sighed and waved them in, chuckling slightly as she closed the door and reached for her clipboard.

"If you two will have a seat then, I'll see about fixing you both up."

"I am merely lightheaded Doctor, I do not believe, that is, I do not hope that I require any fixing," the asari stated as she sat on the nearest empty cot, Emily hopping onto the next one and lounging on it.

"Apparently I'm a nutter Doc, don't think you're qualified to fix that," the redhead teased, grinning mischievously.

"Settle down you two," Chakwas ordered, "I'll decide who and what needs fixing and how, if you both don't mind. Now then," she began, standing in front of the blue skinned woman, "Your name miss?"

"Dr. Liara T'Soni," she replied, "I'm a scientist however…"

"Of course," the grey haired woman replied as she checked the girl over, nodding, "And what are the symptoms that landed you here?"

"She nearly fainted in the comm room," Emily tattled, earning a pout from the asari.

"I was merely lightheaded Doctor," she persisted, the good Doctor nodding once more.

"Any reason why?" she asked, testing Liara's pupils.

"She was trapped in a Prothean bubble when we found her and she discovered that the Reapers wiped them out," informed the redhead.

"I was _mere_ly-"

"Alright don't make me separate you two," Chakwas sighed, before straightening up, "I'd say after a rest and some fluids you'll be right as rain Ms. T'Soni, but I would later, if possible, like to have a chat with you about that _bubble_."

"Certainly Doctor," Liara replied, nodding, "Of course."

"Good, now I'm afraid I have to chat with Emily for a moment," she replied, giving the asari a final nod as she scribbled the final note on her files. Liara thanked the Doctor and excused quietly herself to the canteen.

Emily watched the girl go and noticed the Doctor pulling out her file, "I've just got another headache," the redhead insisted as the Doctor walked over to her.

"I see, and that's all? No dizziness or sleep loss? No more visions?"

Emily visibly blanched and sat up sheepishly before admitting, "The visions _are_ kinda getting annoying..."

Chakwas scribbled another note onto the Commander's file; "I see. And when were you going to tell me about this?"

"After the debriefing," she answered simply.

"_Commander_," Chakwas sighed, "You should have come to me sooner," she began before stopping herself, she sighed once more and rubbed her temple; "I swear you and your brother shall be the death of me child."

"And we love you for it," Emily replied.

"And I suppose John sent you down here without subjecting himself to a check-up?"

"You know Johnny," the redhead replied, nodding.

"Very well," she sighed, "So these visions, are they like the ones you had on the Eden  
>Prime and the Citadel?"<p>

"I can't fight when they happen, I can't see, can't move. I can't even think. It's just the images," Emily explained, "They mix with my memories too. I haven't tried _remembering _anything in case it triggers everything else."

"I see, this is indeed a problem Commander, and to be completely honest, one that I am not prepared to handle at the moment."

"So I'm stuck like this?" Emily asked dejectedly.

"I didn't say that Shepard, but for now all I can tell you is to keep strong while I figure something out and let me know when it happens again."

"So can I be dismissed then Doctor? Joker has the Council on hold until I get back on Duty."

"Yes you may, but when you're done tell your brother I want to look him over as well. At your leave Commander," she finished, swirling around and heading over to her terminal.

Emily sighed and stretched languidly until her spine gave a very satisfying series of pops and jumped off the bed. She waved at the Doctor who was already arm deep in medical work and smiled halfheartedly before vacating the clinic. She jogged the rest of the way back to the comm room, pausing long enough only to return a friendly greeting to the quarian as she passed her.

"Took you long enough," John moaned, grinning.

The redhead merely punched him; "Dr. Chakwas says that she'll look into it."

"Good."

"_After_ you see her later."

"Fuck."

"Verily," she replied, smirking, "Joker, patch us through!"

"Aye aye Commander. Setting up the link now."

Almost immediately three holograms flickered into place, each a fuzzy rendition of the council members.

"We've received your reports Shepards," the asari councilmen spoke, "I understand Dr. T'Soni is on your ship?"

"I assume you're taking the necessary precautions?" the turian interjected.

Rolling his eyes John answered, "Oh yes Councilman, we've got her bound and gagged locked in the storage room, her biotics dampened and her arms chopped off."

Surprised and outraged the asari councilman replied, "_That is a serious break in all intergalactic-"_

Emily kicked her brother hard enough to drop him to one knee and quickly interrupted, "What he _means _is, Ms. T'Soni is on our side, the geth were trying to kill her and she knows nothing of what's going on. John was just being an idiot."

"I'll show _you_ an idiot," John mumbled, keeping his weight on his good foot, "Anyway, we let her stay, figuring that if Saren wants to kill her she must be important."

"Benezia would _never_ allow Saren to kill her daughter," the asari woman replied.

"Maybe she doesn't know," offered the salarian.

"Or maybe we don't know her," replied the turian, "we didn't know that she could become a traitor either."

"At least the mission _was_ a success," the salarian placated, thinking positively.

"Apart from the utter _destruction_ of a _major _Prothean ruin," the turian added, "Was that _really_ necessary?" he asked angrily.

"Yes," John replied before Emily said, "It was crawling with geth. We were lucky that we made it out alive."

The salarian nodded, "Yes of course, the mission must always take priority."

"Good luck Commanders," the asari woman offered, "Remember, we're counting on you two," she finished before the three councilmen flickered out.

The siblings remained paused, staring at where the three once were before looking at each other.

"Did you _really _have to kick me Red?"

"Did you really have to be such a douche?" she retorted, "Besides, it'll give the good Doctor something to look at."

"Fuck, you weren't kidding about that were you?"

Emily shook her head, grinning ear to ear.

"Fuck."

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><p><strong>S<strong>**o there we are. First story plot-piece completed really. **

**So for those of you wondering this chapter took place a few days or so after leaving the Citadel. why didn't i write about the fight against the thresher maw? because sometimes its more fun to just hear the characters complain and imgaine what happened. **

**that and i hate threshers. **

**and i wanted to get to liara. **

**why did i talk about threshers to begin with? well, you know how in ME1 you have to search ALL the galaxies and planets and systems and such to find the one you're looking for? well in my run through, i forgot where lira was, and looked through ALL the planets in her system. and then there was a bunch of distress calls.**

**ALL WERE GODDAMN THRESHER MAWS.**

**so there's that. **

**also, i'm sorry if anyone seems out of character. and im sorry that it took me so long to update. life happens sometimes. D:**

**sidenote, does the story flow alright? do the chapters make you want to hit yourself (or me) over their length?**

**comment people, i care about you. **

**i promise. **

**you know, i've been having so many thoughts about these shepards when the've reached ME2. **

**it's weird knowing at least _one_ of them is going to have to face death. and all that jazz. **

**i'm attached to these two now. i don't want them to die. D: **

**but oh how much fun everything is going to be. i can't wait. especially for the crew's loyalty missions. :)**

**I'm rambling. **

**I promised myself i was only going to talk about the important stuff too...**

**meh. can't remember. **

**OH! right. I brought up ME2 because i do believe that'll defiantly focus more on john. and emily growing up. well, both of them growing up really. **

**RIGHT!**

**So why didn't emily flip out while liara was talking about Protheans? **

**could be that she was too exhausted, could be that she fought it off. maybe the fact it was liara talking. maybe all three. and space magic. **

**ummm**

**COMMENT OR REVIEW**

**I PROMISE I'LL LOVE YOU.**

**even if you flame me.**

**i promise. **

**:)**

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><p>I own nothing, bioware and EA do. please dont sue me.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

**First of all, I would like to take this time to thank everyone who had a hand in making the Mass Effect games, and to everyone who posts walkthroughs, how-to's, articles, and ect. Next, I want to thank everyone for their patience and feedback; especially the anonymous reader whose review left me both speechless and humbled. To you I say: You win all the things and I hope you stick around for the rest of the story. -I still have a few tricks up my sleeve that might keep things interesting. Unless, you know, you figured those out too. **

**So in this chapter we run around the ship… and that's… about it actually. *shrugs* I can't pack action where there isn't any.**

**On the plus side, Emily talks to Liara and John interacts with Ashley after he gets a shot. So that'll be fun. **

* * *

><p>"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything." ― Marilyn Monroe<p>

* * *

><p>John sniffed indignantly as the good Doctor wrote down his vitals before he ran a finger along his hairline scar and then gave his ear a much needed scratch.<p>

"You're looking good Commander, though your shots need updating," she informed him while heading to the drawer with the needed supplies.

"I hate shots," he muttered quietly, bringing a grin to the Doctor's face. She pulled out two syringes and began selecting the necessary medication to put in them while the blue eyed Spectre watched from his position on the cot.

"Hey Doc," he asked mildly as she began filling the first one.

"Yes John?"

"What made you serve on Alliance ships in the first place?" he asked, more to distract himself from the needle than out of genuine interest.

Indulgently, the graying woman replied, "I wanted to travel the Traverse, see the stars, mend the wounds of soldiers with piercing eyes and tender souls…" she began as she approached him with the needle.

Noticing her cocky smile the Spectre sighed and stood up before turning around, surrendering his posterior for the inevitable injection.

The woman continued her explanation without pausing as she injected the syringe's contents, "I enlisted right out of med-school. Earth always seemed to boring to me, too safe. Granted," she chuckled, "I didn't grow up there as _you_ did. –I figured the colonies were teeming with life and exotic adventure."

"So how'd that work out for you?" the Spectre replied as the needle was withdrawn.

"Turns out military life isn't quite as romantic as I'd thought," she replied, chucking the used syringe into the recycling canister as she grabbed the next one, "But humanity needs the Alliance if it wants to expand further into the Traverse and the Alliance will always need good doctors. So I guess I stayed to do my part for humanity," she finished before she tugged the man around and took hold of his left arm. The Spectre grit his teeth and inhaled sharply.

"Thank god you're not as stubborn about this as Alanko," she mumbled quietly, probing the Commander for a visible artery.

The name triggered his curiosity and he waited for the syringe to be imbedded before asking, "How well do'you know the Lieutenant Doc?"

"Alanko?" she asked, popping the needle out of his flesh and turning, "Well, I've never worked with him before the mission on Eden," she admitted as she chucked the second syringe into the canister, "But he has an impressive service record and over a dozen special commendations. He tends to keep to himself though, maybe because of his headaches…" she added absently, mentally reviewing his file as she continued with her work.

"Headaches? Like Emily's from the beacon?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head, "He's an L2."

"Weren't the L2 implants littered with complications? Mental disabilities, memory loss, insanity? That sort of thing?"

"Unfortunately yes, but Kaidan's lucky, he only gets migraines. He's taking the proper medications for them however, so that shouldn't affect his skills on the field Commander."

John sighed, rubbing his temples as the onset of exhaustion began worming its way into his awareness. He began putting his suit back on as the good Doctor began jotting down her final notes.

"I don't suppose you've come up with anything for Emily yet?"

"No," she replied grimly, shaking her head, "I'm afraid I haven't. I need a few hours more before I can pull of any miracles. In the meantime John, just try to keep her as stable as possible. I've a few tricks up my sleeve yet," she offered, her smile returning, "At your leave Commander."

He nodded respectfully and finished dressing, making a mental note to polish his armor at some point as the scratches on it were starting to bug him. He exited the clinic and opted to rejoin his sister and relay what he had learned and then see what their next move was going to be. He nodded to the few crewmen who called out as he passed but his mind was too focused on Saren to leave room for petty small talk.

When the door to the Captain's quarters slid open for him, he stepped inside wordlessly before plopping himself at the small table between the bed and the desk, swinging a boot to rest on his knee to signal his frustration.

"_Sooo_, how's your bum?"

"_Peachy_," he snapped, causing Emily to grin, "fucking shots," he muttered under his breath, casting the redhead a glance. She was propped up on her elbows, legs crisscrossed and swaying leisurely in the air behind her with a lopsided grin plastered to her face, mocking his pain.

"Don't be such a baby John," the redhead teased, "It'll make me look bad."

"Oh yeah," he retorted, giving her a look, "This coming from the girl who's terrified of birds."

"They're _evil_," she protested with a shudder, "pure evil."

"_Birds_," he replied dryly, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow, "They're just rats only with wings."

"They're e_vil_. From _above_."

"Whatever," he replied, not really being in the mood to argue, "Anyway the Good Doctor says I'm good as gold. She's still stumped about you though," he added, sighing.

Emily sighed and sat up, her suit catching the sheets and tugging them into disarray while John sat straighter in his seat, signaling the shifting the mood from jovial teasing to serious discussion.

"We need a plan."

The blue eyed man rubbed his chin as he nodded, the stubble scratching against his armor slightly as he thought.

"I mean we can't just hop from planet to planet hoping to stumble across Saren…"

"No, but maybe we don't need to," he ventured, his eyes icing over in cunning glee.

"What you got then? I'm all ears," she replied, crossing her arms and bobbing her head.

"We can track the chick he's working with. The asari. I mean, we got her daughter on board don't we? The Captain said it was worth a shot anyway."

"Johnny," she sighed, "Ms. T'Soni hasn't spoken to Benezia in _years_. You heard her. How's she going to help us track some she hasn't spoken with in forever?"

"She'd know where her mother would've been likely to go. That's a start."

"_Or_" she drawled_, "_we could just ask around for the matriarch… I doubt there are too many of them running around and she sounded pretty well known and people love to gossip…" she thought aloud, allowing her words to trail off as she continued thinking.

"But we should defiantly start with her kid, seems how she's here and all," John replied before standing up, "I'll see what she knows an-"

"-No, _I_ got it," the redhead interjected, jumping off the bed, "I'll talk to the asari and _you_ can tell the Captain how things are going or something."

"_You_ just want to get out of the paperwork again," he teased, already heading over to the terminal.

"_I_ just don't want _you_ giving the poor girl _nightmares_," she retorted happily as she bounced over to the door, "And I'll tell you whatever I find after I find it."

"Yeah whatever," John grunted in response, already drafting up the basis for his briefing. His fingers flitted over the holographic keys, his gloves making a series of satisfying clacks against the desk as he did so.

Emily snorted and headed out of the Quarter's, already so preoccupied with thoughts about the Protheans, Saren, and Doctor T'Soni, that she didn't notice the door sliding shut behind her or her brother's single digit salute. She glanced around the deck and spotted Kaidan by the Galaxy Map; thinking that he would likely know where the resident asari was residing, she trotted over with a commanding gait and a friendly smile.

Catching notice of her the Lieutenant quickly straightened and offered a stiff salute to which the Spectre affirmed with a nod.

"At ease Lieutenant," she ordered, the man slouching slightly in response as he dropped his hand.

"What can I do for you Commander?" he asked eagerly.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Dr. T'Soni is would you?"

"Actually Ma'am I haven't seen her since she left the canteen. Maybe one of the others knows though," he offered apologetically as the color drained from his face and his shoulders slumped slightly.

Emily bit back a sigh and nodded, "Thank you Alanko, carry on."

"Actually Ma'am," he ventured, ignoring the dismissal completely and forcing the Commander to turn back around.

"Something you need Lieutenant?"

"Off the record, I think something's wrong here Ma'am," he replied skeptically, "This Saren is looking for records of some kind of galactic extinction and the Council won't give us back up? Sorry Commander," he continued flippantly, "but there's writing on the wall here and _someone_ isn't reading it."

The Spectre was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected outburst, but as her weight tilted back onto her toes her composure did a double take and her eyes went cold.

"We got our orders," she stated firmly, fists clenching, "Bellyaching won't change them Lieutenant," she warned, drawing the soldier's rank as a warning.

"I hear ya," he replied gently, shaking his head slightly, "I… It just seems that a group whose been around as long as the Council should've seen this coming. It's funny," he continued wistfully, sighing, "We finally get out here, and the final frontier was already settled. –And the residents don't even seem impressed by the view! Or the dangers," he added.

The redhead sighed, suddenly feeling wary and she silently blamed the fellow biotic. She mentally scribbled 'buzz-kill' next to his name and grinned lopsidedly.

"If this is the way you keep in the CIC, your letters home must be the stuff of ballads," she teased, causing the man's cheeks to flush slightly.

"Sorry Ma'am."

"Just try not to spread any dissention among the ranks m'kay? It's bad for morale," she chided before turning away to continue her quest.

In the Captain's quarters John sighed, he was at a bit of a loss as to what he was supposed to be saying to the man. He had already filed the mission reports the night prior and no doubt the Captain had been among the first to read them. With that in mind, the blue eyed Commander gave a general scope of how things were going on a personal level, his thoughts on the crew and the mission as well as his concerns about his sister. After half an hour so of this he logged out and stretched the tenseness from his muscles and winced as the places where he had received his shots protested furiously.

He tossed a look around the room and seeing it devoid of any redheads, he decided to grab a bite at the canteen as his stomach protested his lack of dinner. Before he had a chance to procure a tray, he spotted the Gunnery sitting solo at one of the secluded tables looking a little worse for wear. After a moment's thought, he plopped into the seat beside her, startling her out of her reverie.

"C-commander," she said, slightly aghast as she straightened her posture and tucked a wayward lock of brown behind her ear.

"Somethin' eating you Chief?" he asked innocently, more curious than interested.

The Gunnery shook her head slightly and sighed before propping herself on her elbows, she swallowed a breath and replied, "I know things are different on the Normandy but… uh, I'm a little concerned about the aliens," she uttered quickly, unsure how the blue coated Spectre would take her words.

"Which ones?"

"Vakarian and Wrex," she answered unabashedly, "With all due respect Commander, should they really have full access to the ship?"

"They don't serve the alliance but they do serve with us. They're allies Chief. At least as far as Saren goes anyway."

"This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy," Ashley replied with a shake of her head as she sat straighter, taken aback, "I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems –engines, systems, _weapons_… Not to mention all the things that the Quarian could get up to…"

"_Tali_," he corrected absently, scratching his stubble; "Feel free to keep an eye on them if it makes you sleep better at night," he offered, still only slightly more invested in the conversation, "But they _are_ part of our team Chief. That means treating them like it. For now anyways," he added absently as his stomach reminded him of his purpose for being there in the first place.

"I'm going to grab some slop, you want any?"

"Thanks Cap'n but I think I'll pass. My stomach has enough knots as it is," she replied, getting up.

John nodded and advanced to the counter while the Gunnery made her way back to the cargo hold; nothing was going to happen to the ship if she could say anything about it and until she drew her final breath, she'd be saying a _lot_.

By this time, Emily had tracked the asari's location to the clinic and she was successfully navigating her way out from under Dr. Chakwas' scrutiny and to the clinic's storage room where the scientist was allegedly holding out. The violet eyed Spectre paused before the door and found herself running a hand through her unruly hair, giving the wily strands some semblance of dignity. She grinned at her own antics and gave the door a gentle nudge, letting the sensors do the rest of the work. The redhead entered quietly and found the asari hunched over at the lonely terminal on the farside of the room.

When her boot clicked against the tile floor the young asari woman jerked and turned her head, her eyes widened when she realized that it wasn't the good Doctor standing behind her but one of the Commanders.

Emily couldn't help but smirk at the asari's momentary surprise and absently clasped her hands behind her back as the scientist stood to face her properly.

"Ms. Commander, are you coming to check up on me?" she asked quietly.

The corners of the redhead's lips fell as she noted inflammation around the woman's eyes; _she has obviously been upset over something,_ she thought in surprise, and the asari's lips were pursed; she doubted the woman would wish to speak of whatever was bothering her. She also noted that the woman seemed far more pigmented than when they first had met, her skin almost flush with color and littered with various almost iridescent hues of blue. _She must have been close to the borderline if this is her proper coloration…_

Pushing her mission away momentarily, Emily cordially replied, "You're looking better Ms. T'Soni," she offered, crossing her arms, "You feeling okay?"

"Doctor Chakwas assured me when I came back that I am going to be fine, and I must say that I am impressed by her knowledge of asari physiology," she admitted, her words inflected with surprise.

Emily flashed her a smile and replied somewhere between assurance and agreement, "We're all in good hands, the good Doctor knows what she's doing."

Liara smiled softly and the redhead found herself glued to the young woman's eyes that were such a light crystal blue color that they almost seemed like frosted glass or moonlit lakes. Emily refocused her attention however when the archeologist began to speak once again.

"I never thanked you properly for saving me from the geth Ms. Commander –you and your brother, I mean," she corrected hurriedly, her face tingeing with light purple, "If you hadn't shown up…" she trailed as her coloration drained once more; she bit her lower lip unconsciously as the grim thoughts of what could have been began settling in.

"Just try not to think about that," the Commander replied, "–And you don't really need to thank us, though it's nice of you. I'm just glad we got there in time."

"So am I," Liara replied honestly. Her face began to fall and the Spectre became concerned once more.

"Liara," she offered gently, "is there something wrong?"

The asari bit her lip again; she was terrified of making the black suited woman angry, as the Commanders and the Doctor were the only ones who had shown kindness to her and she was reluctant to say or do anything that might jeopardize that now that the geth had gone after her. Without the Normandy where would she go? Where would she hide? -_If_ she could hide… Saren had already tried once, who was to stop him from doing it again?

Seeing the unease in the young woman's eyes the redhead placed a gentle hand on the asari's shoulder, "You can tell me," she prodded further, "That's what Commanders are for."

Still unsure, but seeing conviction in the Specter's eyes, she nodded and began hesitantly, "Your concern is appreciated Ms. Commander but it is unnecessary. –I know how much of a risk you –and your brother," she added hastily, " have taken bringing me aboard your ship and that is more than enough," she explained, nodding slightly as her eyes looked everywhere but at the commander.

Confused, Emily asked as her hand dropped, "What do you mean?"

"I have seen the way the crew looks at me. They do not trust me," she replied sadly.

"Ahh, that's why you left the canteen earlier isn't it?" the redhead asked, finally understanding.

Liara nodded, giving the Spectre a better view of the workings of an asari crest before replying, "I admit that I am unused to people in general, so I tried to simply ignore the stares and the murmurs as I have tried in past, but when it became too much I returned to the clinic… Doctor Chakwas and I talked a bit and I told her more of the Prothean security device I was trapped in and then she said this room was more than available if I wished… I, I do hope that is alright Commander? That I may stay here?"

The Spectre nodded, "Perfectly. It's not like it was really getting used before," she replied, "And I'll have a word with the crew, they should know better."

"Thank you Commander but that is unnes-"

"Defiantly necessary," Emily tsked, her grin returning, "And I'm sure the crew will trust you in time. I mean, they haven't shot Garrus yet," she teased, "And as long as you don't start praising Saren I seriously doubt they'll shoot you either."

Missing the humor, panic momentarily flashed through the young woman's eyes as her breath hitched, "But I am _nothing_ like Benezia, I will _not_ become anything like her," she insisted, the outburst taking Emily aback, "I will do whatever it takes to help you stop Saren," she swore, blind fury and sincerity lacing every word, "_I promise_."

Emily grabbed the young woman's shoulders, allowing the asari a moment to recollect her composure before she replied soothingly, "Don't worry Liara, I know you will," she withdrew her hands and continued, "I know you won't let us down, and _I_ trust you. That's pretty much all you need."

The asari smiled, her happiness stretching so far that it lit up her eyes and danced across her pearly teeth, causing Emily to respond in kind. After a moment or so the purple tinge crept back into the scientist's face and she dipped her head again before saying, "It means a lot to hear you say that Ms. Commander. Thank you."

The redhead chuckled slightly, "Just Commander will do. Or Shepard. If you want."

"Shepard," she replied, rolling the name off of her tongue, "Yes… and you may call me Liara if you wish, unless humans have certain traditions regarding given names?"

"Not usually no, first names are fine unless you're part of the military. Then… well, your last name becomes you. Or is it the other way around?" the Spectre asked herself absently as she scratched the back of her head, "I can never remember… "

The asari giggled softly which brought Emily's attention back to focus, another smile flittered across her lips and the red Commander found herself curious about the scientist.

"Tell me about yourself Liara," the redhead asked, crossing her arms casually as she rested her weight on one side.

"Me?" the asari asked surprised; she blinked a few times, the light dancing across her crest as her glance shifted around the floor before settling somewhere only she could see.

"I'm afraid I'm not very interesting Commander," she insisted quietly, aware that archeology didn't compare to military life, "I spend most of my time on remote digs, unearthing mundane items buried long ago in long-forgotten Prothean ruins."

Emily had never really thought about the archeological field, knowing only gang and Alliance military life herself, but the asari's words reminded her of the bubble in the ruins where they had met and the redhead felt a shiver settle along her spine as she thought about it. She pushed the thought back as she replied without realizing, "Sounds dangerous… and lonely" she added, thinking of the girl being trapped for so long.

"Well sometimes I would run afoul of indigenous life-forms or stumble across a small band of mercenaries or privateers," she admitted, her movements fluctuating with her words, "I was always careful however. Until the geth followed me to Artemis Tau I had never found myself in any situation that my biotics could not handle," she proclaimed without boast," And as for the solitude, well, I think that is what most appealed to me."

"You don't like people?" Emily asked surprised.

"Sometimes, I need to just get away from others, and I suppose it comes from being a Matriarch's daughter. People expected me to follow in Benezia's footsteps, they wanted me to be a leader of our people… Matriarchs guide their followers into the future and seek truth in what is yet to come. I think that is why I became so interested in the secrets of the past," she paused, her eyes widening before she glanced down again, "It sounds so foolish when I say it aloud," she admitted before returning her gaze to the Specter's, "It sounds as if I became an archeologist simply to spite my mother."

Emily chuckled, another grin splashing across her face, "Every kid likes to rebel against their parents. –Or the law if none are available, though I don't recommend much of that," she joked.

Liara giggled, the last of her worry draining away before she replied, "You share the wisdom of a matriarch Commander, that is exactly what Benezia said when I told her my desired pursuit of study, though I admit, she did not include any mention of lawbreaking. – Perhaps she was always an upstanding representative of the law and neglected to comment of it."

"Shame, lawbreaking is usually pretty fun," Emily replied calmly before chuckling; "But c'mon, there must have been _something_ that drew you to playing in the dirt all day."

"I love my work," she replied happily, "Seeking out history's lost secrets has a special appeal for me," she continued, her voice rising in her excitement, "_You_ were actually _touched_ by working Prothean technology!" she exclaimed, "That is why you fascinate me Commander," she continued, clearly in awe.

"Sounds like you want to dissect me in a lab somewhere," Emily mused, her eyes glossed in mirth.

"What?" the asari asked, taken aback; she began to back-peddle and the redhead resisted the urge to giggle as the asari faltered further, "No! I did not mean to insinuate-" she tried before stopping, "Ah, I never meant to _offend_ you Shepard," she began again, her eyes filled with determination, embarrassment, and frustration; "I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for in-depth study. _No!_ No that's even _worse…_" she helplessly fretted.

Emily gave in to the urge to laugh, and did so until the asari went from embarrassment to mild irritation; when the redhead was able to breathe again she sniffed and wiped a few tears from her eyes before replying, "Relax Liara, I was only joking. I'm sorry."

"_Joking_?" she asked surprised, "Oh! By the goddess, how could I be so _dense_?" she groaned; she pulled her lips into a pout and sighed, "You must think I am a _complete_ and utter fool."

"Nah, Johnny's a fool when he trips over himself, you're just adorable."

Uncertain as to how she was to take the statement Liara merely nodded before sighing; "Now you know why I prefer to spend my time in the field with data disks and computers. –I _always_ seem to say _something_ embarrassing around other people."

"You didn't seem to do all that bad to me," Emily chuckled.

"All the same, _please_," the scientist begged dryly as she rubbed the bottom of her crest, "Let us pretend that this conversation _never_ happened."

"As you wish," Emily replied, shrugging. She nodded at the girl and gave her a final grin before while jerking her thumb at the door.

"I should go."

"Uh, yes, of course Commander, I'm sorry for keeping you from your duties."

The redhead chuckled as she headed to the door, "It's fine Ms. T'Soni, I've always got time for the crew," she retorted before slipping back into the clinic.

Emily tossed the graying woman a good natured nod and found herself rubbing the back of her neck when the Doctor gave her a knowing glance and a cheeky grin. The redhead chuckled quietly and made her way to the canteen, where she was fairly certain her brother would be stuffing his face, which as she thought about it, didn't really seem like a bad idea.

She passed by the Gunnery, who gave her a firm salute but neglected conversation, and was almost to the tray line when the intercom clicked on, startling the crew and forcing the blue eyed Spectre into a frown.

"Sorry to spoil your lunches, but we've got a message coming in Commanders."

"Patch it through Joker," John ordered as he dropped his fork.

"Unless it's the Council, then we're not home," Emily quipped as she filched an apple from the basket and made her way over to her brother.

He nudged her with his elbow as the intercom momentarily fizzled before crackling into a female's voice.

"Commanders, my name is Nassana Dantius and I have a job for the both of you. I can't say any more in an unsecured communication. If you're interested in hearing my offer, meet me on the Citadel so we can talk in person. I'll be waiting in the diplomat's lounge on the presidium."

With that, the message cut off abruptly and the Spectre's glanced at each other.

"Bet she's a bitch with a fancy-ass laptop," the redhead offered.

"Nah, probably an asari who can't do her own dirty work," John retorted, crossing his arms.

"So you wanna check it out? We hav'ta get back to the Citadel anyway."

"She didn't have anything on Benezia I take it?"

Emily shook her head, "She was too busy hiding from the crew poor girl. Apparently we really need to work on trust 'round here."

"You didn't even _ask_ her did you?" john sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Mox nix," Emily tsked, "Tis irrelevant. The Citadel has the answers we seek so to the Citadel we shall go."

"Fine. It's a plan at least. Ms. Dantius better be packing major credits though, we're not gunmolls anymore…"

"Joker, set course to the Citadel, I want to get there yesterday," Emily ordered with a grin.

"Impossible physics aside Commander, setting course. ETA should be in a couple of hours. Bring me back a toy this time."

* * *

><p><strong>So next chapter we go *back* to the Citadel and then run off on a sidequest. Fun.<strong>

**Wanna know something funny? I accidentally did her quest without talking to her first so by the time i got back to the citadel missions later she was like "oh.. i was totally going to blackmail you to do this.. um... here, have a reward :) " and I was like "... yeah ok. *takes money*" **

**Now, things to be addressed in no particular order:**

**why is there so much goddamn Emily everywhere?**

**-I'm trying to work more with John. This is going to be the death of me. He's so much harder to write... DX**

**Why hasn't John flirted with anyone yet? **

**-Well he's not really that type of guy. he hates talking. makes romanticness hard to pull off unless it's at least like the fourth actual conversation he's had with them. I'm working on it though. promise. **

**whose going to die on virmire?**

**-WE'LL GET THERE WHEN WE GET THERE. :) **

* * *

><p><strong>I do not own anything even remotely related to mass effect or bioware except for maybe some fanart and a few stories about it so really now, you'd just be wasting your time to sue me. <strong>


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